A busy month for Caymanians in the UK: Runfest and Cayman Day

A running team of 14 people from the Cayman Connection UK (CCUK) “Fit Club” joined the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (CIDOT), London on Saturday 11 September to run the Visit Cayman Islands Sundown Fun Run as part of the Richmond RunFEST, sponsored and co-hosted by CIDOT.

Dr Tasha Ebanks Garcia, Cayman Islands Government Representative to the UK, joined the running team and thanked the Department of Tourism and Cayman Connection for bringing Caymanians and friends of Cayman together for a fun Cayman-themed occasion, while promoting the Cayman Islands to over a thousand London runners and supporters of the Richmond RunFEST.

The race began with Cayman Connection member and Miss Caribbean UK “Miss Personality” Ashlea Smith leading a socacise warm up to over 350 runners, who all wore custom Cayman Islands running shirts made from recycled plastic from Scimitar clothing and ran to the entertainment of Caymanian performer and Cayman Connection member King Navassa.

Cayman Connection’s Founder Kate Kandiah said, “It was great to be able to join this fun event thanks to the Department of Tourism in Richmond, and to bring even more Caymankind spirit to the promotional event with Cayman Connection runners. CC’s “fit club” was established in February for our “Fit for February” campaign for Caymanians overseas to keep moving in lockdown and has been supporting fitness efforts of club members throughout the year. It was really great to come together in person for a physical Cayman-themed run this weekend!”

The event comes just one week before the inaugural Cayman Day in the UK, an event being held in London to bring together over one hundred Caymanians for the first time in over 19 months, organised in conjunction with the Cayman Islands Government Office in the UK.

Cayman Connection’s Regional Manager Rita Estevanovich commented: “It has been a busy month orgnanising this special event to showcase Caymanian talent from across the UK and Europe! We are bringing together Caymanians from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Luxemburg and all over England, we have performances from Caymanians Precious Shordee, King Navassa, Violinist Nayil Arana, Nicole Wood and Mr. Notch, as well as DJ from More Vibez and host Jevy Ebanks. We also have food by Caymanian chef Chad, working with award winning Jamaican Chef Collin who has spent time working in the Cayman Islands. We are looking forward to a really fun and CaymanKind day for all the family!”

Cayman Connection has also partnered with Resilience Cayman’s Local Market to bring Cayman products to the UK, selling Cayman products at the event and online leading up to Christmas.

Early Bird Complementary tickets are now sold out, but tickets can be purchased from Cayman Connection for £40, to include performances, prosecco and rum punch reception, drinks tokens, games and prizes and Cayman-inspired Caribbean food throughout the day. The organisers welcome private sector sponsors to come forward to sponsor their respective scholarship students who might like to attend, and thanks Maples, who have sponsored their scholarship students to attend the event.

These events are two in-person events among over 40 online events already this year. See www.caymanconnectoin.org or more details and how to become a member to join the fun and to stay connected to Cayman while overseas.