Who is Belize Law Enforcement’s “Wonder Woman?”
As children perform in dance, music and drama, female officers are taking part in the Belize Coast Guard’s second annual Wonder Woman Challenge, taking place at its headquarters on the George Price Highway. For two days, female officers of the Coastguard, Police and B.D.F. will be competing in several disciplines. Aside from encouraging sportsmanship, the event is also a means to recruit more women into law enforcement. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The namesake blockbuster release may be hitting theaters on June first, but today several female officers from various branches of law enforcement competed in the second annual Wonder Woman Challenge. It is two days of grueling activities meant to test the mettle of each participant, at the end of which a single athlete, as well as the respective team to which she belongs, will be recognized for physical endurance.
Alma Pinelo
Lt. Jr. Grade Alma Pinelo, Belize National Coast Guard
“This is the second year we are doing it. It originated from the women of the coast guard wanting to do their own competition. So we brainstormed different ideas and we came up with a two-day event. We extended it to police and the Belize Defense Force last year but it ended up being a fully coast guard ran event. But this year we got the Belize Defense Force to send in two teams, and so it’s two teams from the defense force and two teams from the Belize Coast Guard.”
Isani Cayetano
“What are some of the activities and challenges being undertaken here over the next two days?”
Lt. Jr. Alma Pinelo
“We just completed our six-mile relay and pretty much each, there were four females, one from each team at one-mile marks and whoever came in first won.”
The idea of the competition is to promote teamwork, as well as sportsmanship. It is also meant to encourage the recruitment of women in law enforcement.
Lt. Jr. Alma Pinelo
“This afternoon, we have an evolution called the swim-run which is a one-mile run followed by a one-mile ocean swim, completing the evolution would be another one-mile run. Tomorrow is the coast guard medley which is four laps, and each lap has a different weight or obstacle that each team needs to carry throughout the entire lap and in the afternoon it’s the obstacle course.”
Isani Cayetano
“Insofar as performance, since the beginning of this challenge, what are we looking at?”
Lt. Jr. Alma Pinelo
“Definitely more competitive, the teams are very close in time and everyone is putting in, you know, a hundred and ten percent. As it stands right now, we will go into the next event in the order as to, pretty much whoever came in last will start this afternoon and whoever came in first just now will go last. It’s definitely different for every individual and every team. We all have our different strengths and weaknesses so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”
Isani Cayetano
“Finally, what will be the recognition for either those teams or individuals who excel in this two-day challenge?”
Lt. Jr. Alma Pinelo
“Well we have, following this, we won’t do it tomorrow but we’ll have a separate awards ceremony where we’ll have our medals for our first, second and third place and we’ve been getting different prizes from the different sponsors and different people that we work with… We are compiling all that we can when it comes to prizes and then we’ll split it up into first, second and third, along with the medals.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
