Cayman’s athletics community is buzzing with excitement.
In two days, 100 metre world champion Yohan Blake will be taking part in the inaugural Cayman Invitational. The meet is planned for this Wednesday, 9 May, at George Town’s Truman Bodden Sports Complex from 5.30pm.
Among those elated that Grand Cayman will serve as host is Anissa Owen, 20.
“That’s a huge accomplishment, I would love to meet them and get pointers from them,” Owen said. “It’s a great accomplishment for young Caymanians to see and for the establishment of the sport in Cayman.
“I think it will improve what we have here. Olympic athletes always inspire me and the meet can help the up-and-coming ones to see how much hard work it takes to get there and carry our country’s flag with pride.”
The Cayman Invitational is the first North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletics Association certified permit meet in the Cayman Islands and the event will become a permanent highlight on Cayman’s sports tourism calendar.
It is organized by local track and field hero Cydonie Mothersill. Blake, of Jamaica, headlines an all-star cast of athletes which include top Americans like 2011 100m world champion Carmelita Jeter and 200 metre runner Shawn Crawford and Michael Frater, a member of the Jamaican 4x100m world record breaking team.
Cayman is slated to be represented by the likes of 2012 London Olympians Mothersill and Kemar Hyman, who ran a 100m time of 10.07 seconds for Florida State University at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships last month.
Owen is among the local athletes hoping to reach the Olympic level some day. The Bodden Town resident recently came back from Canada on spring break, where she is a first-year student at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She states she would garner many accolades for the Huskies under Atlantic University Sport, the governing body for all colleges in Nova Scotia.
“I just completed my first semester and I’m doing four years of pre-med biology,” Owen said. “I won different awards, like rookie of the year and athlete of the year for the school and in the AUS. I competed in the regionals and the nationals, doing the 60m and the long jump.
“I did indoor meets all season with my best jump being 5.56m and my best time being 7.95s. It was the first time I did the 60m since primary school.”
Owen’s 60m time is a personal best and earned her bronze at the 2012 AUS track and field championship in Moncton. Her long jump mark tied Olympian Adrienne Power’s AUS record.
Interestingly, Owen is currently Cayman’s national record holder in the long jump (posting 5.64m in 2010 in Santo Domingo) and shot put (throwing 11.16m in 2008 in Nassau). With Kemar Hyman recently rising through the college ranks, she states her goal is to reach similar heights.
“I’m planning on improving. My coach says I have more potential and I have a lot more work to do. I want to go back, improve and be a force. I’m also trying to qualify for the Central American and Caribbean Games for Cayman in long jump this summer.”
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