St. Agnes Wins Anglican Track and Field Championships

The fourth annual Anglican Diocesan Track and Field Championships concluded on Saturday at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium with Saint Agnes Parish being declared the 2009 Champions after finishing second in 2008 behind Saint Barnabas Parish.
Saint Agnes collected a total 694 points, Holy Cross Parish 683 points for the close second place and Saint Barnabas rounded out the top three in the third spot with 459 points.
The meet which hosted more than 1,000 athletes covering more than 10 age groups got underway with an opening ceremony attended by Deputy Governor General Sir. Arthur Foulkes and Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Desmond Bannister. 
Also on hand for the meet was Bahamas Olympic Association Vice-President Mike Sands, College of The Bahamas Athletic Director Kimberly Rolle and Olympic and World Champion Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie.
Deputy Governor General Foulkes commended Archbishop Laish Boyd, Archbishop Drexel Gomez, the Anglican Youth Diocesan and all others for a job well done in organizing the track and field meet.

"Your commitment has inspired a number of people from cross generations.  Sports have the ability to bring people together and this track and field meet is brining together parishes to participate in another exciting meet.
Sports can also bring out the best in an individual, but can inspire discipline and help to develop skills and healthy habits that can last a lifetime.  In my own youth, I sometimes engaged in sporting activities, but I have to confess and was not good at it," said Foulkes.
Bannister said as a young Anglican man, he is honoured to be a part of the event and to see how many young people were out on Saturday participating.
"At the National Youth Recognition Ceremony, Tiffany Hall who is an Anglican was honoured with the Governor General’s Youth Award for National Youth Leader Of The Year.  It tells what our churches are doing with the development of our young people and it tells a great story of what gatherings such as the track and field meet can do," said Bannister.
He also said as the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, he wants to congratulate and ask the Anglican youth to continue to be disciplined in whatever they do. 
Former head of the Anglican Diocesan of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Archbishop Gomez said he was pleasantly surprise on Saturday when he drove through seeing so many cars and so many people out to support the event.
"I am so pleased to see the meet develop so quickly and is an established part of the Diocesan calendar.  Bishop Boyd had asked me to fill in for him as he has another engagement.  The Diocese is very proud of the work that Father Enrique McCartney and his team have been doing," said Archbishop Gomez.
Officially declaring the meet opening, Gomez said he hopes the event not only benefits those who are participating but builds up a spirit of comraderie, fellowship and a spirit of working together. 
Olympic and World Champion Ferguson-McKenzie also commended the Anglican Diocesan for a well thought of and organize track and field meet that brought so many people together.
"On this your fourth edition of the meet, we pay homage to the late Vince Ferguson and Lou Adderley and I take this time to congratulate all the participants in this meet including the athletes, coaches and organizers for a job well ddone," said Ferguson-McKenzie.