At a glance
- Franz Manderson’s final Deputy Governor’s 5K Challenge took place on Sunday morning
- The sold-out race had 3,000 participants running, walking and jogging the course around George Town
- Many of Manderson’s colleagues took part, including Premier André Ebanks and Governor Jane Owen
There was just one word from Deputy Governor Franz Manderson as he crossed the finish line of the Deputy Governor’s 5K Challenge on Sunday morning: “Awesome!”
With Manderson retiring from the Civil Service in July, this year’s race was the final one held under his leadership and thousands of people turned out to run, jog or walk alongside him, including many members of Cabinet. Around 3,000 people took part in the sold-out event, according to the deputy governor.
Thankfully for race organisers, the early-morning downpour that greeted residents of West Bay never made it down to George Town to spoil the festival atmosphere. The early starting time meant that many were spared the soaring temperatures as the sun climbed higher in the skies above Grand Cayman.
Thousands of runners lined up before 6.30am at the start line in front of Government Administration Building, led by Manderson, Premier André Ebanks and Governor Jane Owen. Cabinet members who participated included Isaac Rankine, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Michael Myles, Nickolas DaCosta and Rolston Anglin.
The route took participants on a circular, partly traffic-free course along Huldah Ave and Smith Road to Walkers Road before looping back to Seafarers Way, past the Parliament building and returning to Elgin Avenue. There were numerous water stations along the way.
Speaking after completing the race, Manderson said that it had been an “amazing” day.
“I am so thrilled to see so many people come out, not just to support me, but to support our charities and to promote a healthy lifestyle and give back to our community,” he said.
Referring to the considerable political turnout, he said, “It really warms my heart to see our premier, our governor, my Cabinet colleagues, coming to give me a good send off. It really makes me feel good.”
Passing the torch
Doing the run was an emotional experience for him, he said. “It started to sink in a bit, that this will be my last one as deputy governor and it’s time for me to pass the torch onto a new DG in a couple of weeks.”
He said that it would now be up to the new deputy governor to decide what they wanted to do with the race going forward.
“It’ll be for the new DG to put their stamp on it,” he said. “Maybe they would like to have a different colour [race shirt] and different charities? But I never expected that something that we started to raise $5,000 for a charity would come to where we are today, with 3,000 people and $100,000 raised today, as well as doing a lot for the nation’s health.”
He estimated that since he started the race in 2015, more than US$1 million will have been raised for good causes. The 2026 event was run in support of three charities, Jasmine palliative and hospice care, Special Olympics Cayman Islands and the Breast Cancer Foundation.
Healthy lifestyle
Promoting better health and good causes are subjects close to Manderson’s heart, he said.
“I had a heart attack a few years ago, and the reason that I survived was because I was in a gym,” Manderson said. “I was exercising regularly, and I want to promote that. Don’t wait for a heart attack to live a more healthy lifestyle.”
Governor Owen said that she has done the race every year and said it felt particularly special this year.
“We’re all so proud of DG; we’re proud of everything he does, but we’re all so proud of what he’s done through this 5K walk and run every year,” she said. “It’s great to see so many people in Cayman coming out to walk and run for charity and to raise money for such great causes.”
Premier Ebanks walked the race route with his wife Tiffany, with the two contesting a closely-fought sprint finish at the end.
“The atmosphere was brilliant, the weather was great, the company was great,” he said. “People were so happy and energised and look forward to it every year.”
Ebanks, who said that he had to get out of the way of the stampede at the start of the race, described the event as achieving three purposes: “It gets the community out, it gets people moving and it raises a lot of money for charity.”
Race finishers
Tired but happy finishers were treated to coffee, soft drinks, fruit and chocolate muffins at the end.
Ivan Jones has been running the DG5K every year for the past nine years and was one of the earlier finishers.
“The general atmosphere is great. I think it’s one of the best runs on island,” he said. “I was a bit worried about the rain early on, but it didn’t affect the race, which is great. It’s always a nice day for the DG5K!”
Recently-married couple Issy Leach and Haydn Howard are training for the Paris marathon in a few weeks’ time and had already run 13 kilometres early in the morning before joining the 5-kilometre run.
“It was really good out there today,” said Leach. “There was a excellent atmosphere and lovely to see so many people out on the course. There was a slight incline on the route which I hadn’t been expecting, but it was great fun.”
Declan Connor moved to Cayman just seven weeks ago and described his first DG5K as “Fantastic”.
“It’s been a great morning out,” he said. “It’s such a good way to start the day.”
Runners can find out how they did on the results section of Race Caribbean’s website.
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