B.D.F. holds Running Festival
If you are looking for something interesting to do this weekend, your search is over. At five tomorrow morning the main event of the annual Belize Defence Force Running Festival kicks off on the Western Highway with a full marathon. It starts off at the Hattieville Bridge, working its way across the Boom Road before hitting the Northern Highway bound for the Marion Jones Stadium. According to the organisers, in addition to the twenty-six mile run, there will be three other races, the Henry Usher half-marathon, the Gloria Auil 10K, and Karen’s Fitness Centre 5K. More than two thousand people are expected to participate in the event, either as runners or support crew. And as Sergeant Major Gerald Meighan told us this morning, the more than twenty-five thousand dollars in prize money have brought competitors out of the woodwork.
Sgt. Major Gerald Meighan, Organizer, B.D.F. Sports Day
“You have the first five male and females get cash prizes and then after that, we break down everybody into categories, under twenty, twenty to twenty-nine, thirty to thirty-nine, male and female and they get medals for that. For both races, like for the full marathon, the first ten people get cash prizes and then after that you get a fifty-dollar prize for everybody that finishes. For the half-marathon it’s twenty-five. But the catch is that the course will only be open for five hours. It starts at five in the morning and closes at ten, so everybody needs to be off the road by ten o’clock, whichever race you are running.”
Lt. Col. Stephen Heusner, Coordinator, B.D.F. Sports Day
“Every year we try to break away from normal military routine, bring the soldiers in and have general fun. And one of the things we try to do is encourage our soldiers to take part in different sporting activities, track and field is one of the main things that we try to do apart from football, basketball, volleyball and the other types of sports, cycle races. We try to get them together for one day, compete against the various units and the guys put a lot of work into it and try win, to take the medal or trophy home to their unit. It’s a lot of fun, we bring the families out, we have games for them as well, and get them involved again in sporting activities. We try to encourage fitness here, it’s a culture here, but we try to encourage it and try and encourage the fellows to win some money and make some money while doing it. And if there is someone from the local populace who could in and try to beat us, then fine, our motivation is to ensure that they don?t do that.”
The half-marathon is scheduled to start near the Nova Shrimp Farm on the Northern Highway at five-thirty, while the 10K will begin approximately one mile north of the Haulover Bridge at six a.m. and the Karen’s Fitness 5K at six-thirty on Chetumal Street. Registration is free and all races will end at the Marion Jones Sports Complex. In addition to the races, track and field events and a hotly contested football game between B.D.F. soldiers versus the police officers will take place at the track. Held under the theme: “Running to Preserve Belize’s Natural Resources”, the running festival and family activities are being coordinated by the Belize Defence Force and the Holy Redeemer Credit Union.
