MoBay City Run provides holistic growth for Mt Alvernia athletes

Mount Alvernia High had much more than a top-two finish in the women's 5K to celebrate in the Jill Stewart MoBay City Run.

With the school's participation now a staple in charity events out west, head coach of the St James all-girls institution, Andrew Henry, lauded the holistic development of his athletes and in particular, the attitude of 'giving back'.

"To develop our students we have to look at holistic development. There are so many athletes, so many students, who come into our school with so much ability, but they will not be able to enhance the ability without the administration pushing to ensure that they do the best they can," Henry shared.

"The institution of Mount Alvernia High, the administrative body and persons supporting Mt Alvernia High in sports, in general, are constantly putting out effort to ensure that this track and field team continues to grow.

"Mt Alvernia is one of the institutions in the western part of the island that participates in many extracurricular activities because the administration understands the holistic type of development, and I would love to see other schools in this region do the same.

"Some schools took part in only track and field, basketball, football and netball; when you look at Mt Alvernia, we take part even in swimming and we don't have a swimming pool," Henry remarked.

"It gives them a chance to enhance their performance. It also gives them a chance to practise the truth of giving back, a chance to identify who they are as an individual and know that they can come back and contribute. Not many persons see the necessity in contributing and assisting persons, so I'm sure that the takeaway from this for these girls is they will understand that it is good for them to give back to their community."

SCHOLARSHIPS

Founded by popular journalist/philanthropist Janet Silvera, a daughter of the St James soil, the Jill Stewart MoBay City Run is an annual activity that earns money to provide scholarships for tertiary students in St James.

This year's event was renamed in honour of the late Jill Stewart, a former educator and competitor, who had contributed passionately to the event by not working with the organisers to drum up support but creating a group to attract participants.

This was the eighth staging, and the goal was to raise $7 million.

The main competition was focused on the 5K and 10K runs for males and females, and there were other categories, which included walking events.

In the female 10K, Danielle Terrier took first ahead of Alecia Green and Vanessa Stockhausen, while Kemar Leslie took the male equivalent ahead of Jomo-Rhys Gilman. Andrew Gutzmore placed third.

FIRST AND SECOND

Dwayne Graham was first in the men's 5K in 16:45, while Winston Dehaney finished second in 17:07 ahead of Andrew Powell (17:36).

In the signature, 5K, Mount Alvernia High schoolgirls Karma Lewin (21:52) and Chris-Ann Edwards (21:54) claimed first and second, respectively, in a neck-and-neck duel to the finish, while third went to Cindy Asoba (22:41).

"I'm happy that I placed first. I worked for it, and I hope I can influence others to compete and contribute," said Lewin.

Edwards commented: "After coming second today, I feel a boost of confidence to do more advanced work such as external competitions, and I also feel united with my teammates here today to be able to come out here and do our best as one team, to be able to put out the training that we've been doing for so long."