Cayman Marathon This Weekend! Event Preview

There will be lots of excitement this weekend when the annual Intertrust Cayman Islands Marathon, Half-Marathon and 4-Person Relay happens this Sunday, 8 December starting at 5am on the waterfront. The public is encouraged to come out and support this great charity event which raises funds for the Cayman Islands Cadet Corps and the Cancer Society as well as other organisations such as Jasmine, Crisis Centre, CCMI and Red Cross.

At the time of writing, organisers confirm 89 full marathoners, 693 half marathon entrants and 86 teams entered for the relay, and the usual flurry of last-minute entries is yet to come! This year the race is expected to grow in numbers with about 100 new registrations expected on the day before the race, which attracted over 1500 runners in 2018, and is celebrating its seventeenth (17th) year. Between visiting runners, their families and supporters the race is bringing over 450 visitors to the island, according to organisers.

The Kids Fun Run, sponsored by MILO and the Ministry of Youth & Sports, will start at 10:30am at the new Government Administration Building on Elgin Avenue and end just past the finish line on the corner of Cardinall Avenue and Harbour Drive. This event is free for students between the ages of 5 and 11 years old and is expected to bring in 300 kids.

The level of corporate support for the event is continuing to grow each year as companies and organisations such as Health Services Authority, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Kirk Supermarket, Ernst & Young, CUC and sponsors Intertrust and BritCay all pay for their staff to participate.

The top three male and female marathoners and half marathoners in the 29 and under, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60 and over age categories will be awarded for their achievements. The top three teams in the corporate, all-male, all-female and mixed relay competitions will receive awards sponsored this year by Bedell Cristin. The CUC High School challenge relay event will also receive awards.

“It’s our 17th year, and every year keeps getting better. The support we receive from the community, our sponsors, volunteers, local runners and overseas runners – some who fly here every year just to run our race or volunteer – is overwhelming,” said Rhonda Kelly, Race Director. “This event is so inspirational and at times so emotional. We are just thrilled to be a part of the triumphs and powerful moments that a lot of our local and visiting runners will experience this Sunday. We count it an honour to be a part of their stories.”

Marathon Stories

• Last year Michael Doherty from Massachusetts ran a full marathon in Maine on his birthday which is 8 December. The temperature was 1 degree Fahrenheit with a wind chill that made it well below zero. His wife asked if his next full marathon adventure could be on a sunny beach, and so he’ll be celebrating his 50th birthday in the Cayman Islands;

• BOB FM morning talk show host Taylor Vaughn will be completing her first half marathon after a very eventful year which includes losing 129 pounds!

• 10 years ago, Casandra Barnett from West Bay did the half marathon for the first time with one of her best friends. She figured doing it again this year would be a good way to celebrate that accomplishment so she will be lacing up on 8 December;

• Luis Sanchez Sr. and Jr. will be running the half marathon together. Father and son are both retired military veterans from the US Army and US Marines respectively. Luis Jr. lives in Grand Cayman and Luis Sr. will be visiting from Puerto Rico. They will be joined by Luis Jr’s 17-year old son Elian;

• Queensland, Australia native Amanda Barlow will celebrate her birthday on 8 December. The Intertrust Cayman Islands Marathon will be her 60th full marathon on her 60th birthday. She started running full marathons when she was 49-years old; her first was the London Marathon and since then she has run 59 marathons in 17 different countries around the world, including Antarctica and 5 Boston Marathons. She can't wait to celebrate her birthday and her marathon milestones in the beautiful Cayman Islands;

• This will be Charlotte Mlynar’s 5th Cayman half marathon. She was joined in the first two by her dad. Sadly, he passed away last year so this race will be for him, said Mlynar who is from Monroeville, Pennsylvania;

• “I came last year, and Grand Cayman summoned my soul to come back. This race is special because of the local volunteers!” – Dena Prater, Spring Valley, California;

• Twin sisters Yvette and Yvonne Carter from Maryland, USA are back to run the half and full respectively. Yvette ran the half in 2018 on a bet from Yvonne. She has struggled with congenital spine and eye problems, and the complications of untreated hypothyroidism for most of her life. With support from her mother, twin and friends who she considers family, she has persevered and accomplished things that many said she could not. Her sister Yvonne has been the first female marathon winner for the past two years and was hoping for a “three-peat” but now battling a stress fracture she’s hoping just to finish;

• Katie Correia will be running the half marathon for the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI). “The "Reef Relief Squad" is running for a cause close to my heart. I've never been as passionate about anything as I am about taking care of our home planet and more specifically our oceans. They truly are the life blood of this earth and without healthy oceans, we couldn't survive here. I am running for my health, for the health of the planet, and to spread awareness about green issues that every single person can truly have a positive impact on. After all, there is no plan(et) B.”;

• Kurt McKenzie has been on a weight loss journey since 5 August 2017 and has gone from 311 to 199 pounds as of August 2019. He walked the half last year and now he is going to run it hoping to show even just one person that nothing is impossible;

• Sharon Ogden from Oklahoma has always wanted to visit Cayman and can’t think of a better reason than to run a half marathon;

• Surena King has been coming to Cayman to run the half for seven years. She loves running early and in warm weather and considers Cayman her winter escape from the temperatures this time of year in Maryland;

• Darren Raiguel from Virginia will be completing his 89th full marathon overall since 2009. He’s run a marathon in all 50 states and all Canadian provinces. He started doing countries in 2019 and Cayman will be his 7th country;

• Cayman resident Kelly Fiebig has participated in 11 of the 16 marathons, doing either the relay or half marathon. She took a break in 2018 to have twins and now she’s returning;

• Beth Florek, who has won the full marathon six times, will return to the road after two years

• Robyn Larkin who supports the event every year by running and volunteering will be running the full marathon in honour of her mother who died of brain cancer in 2018;

• Cayman resident Wanda Rice’s mother was always very active, running full marathons, climbing mountains and doing triathlons. Then she was diagnosed in 2010 with stage four lung cancer. As she was recovering and being treated, she asked Wanda and a childhood friend they would run a half marathon with her "when" she got better. In 2011, in celebration of her remarkable spirit and recovery, the three ran their very first half marathon and have continued running at least one per year since. Still in remission and at 76 years old, Wanda’s mother will be running her first Cayman half next to her daughter.

Organisers are asking for the public’s cooperation during the race by keeping traffic along the race route to a minimum, and in particular those people who live along the route are being asked to secure their dogs in their yards, and turn on their Christmas lights if they have any from 4:30am on the morning of 8 December.

The race starts at on the George Town Waterfront, by Sharkeez Bar & Grill and goes through South Church Street, South Sound and Old Prospect Road, after which runners turn around and go back through South Sound and then onto Walkers and Hospital Roads, Elgin Avenue, Edward and Fort Streets and back to Breezes.

Late registration for the 2019 Intertrust Cayman Islands Marathon, Half Marathon, 4-Person Relay, CUC High School Challenge and Kids Fun Run can only be done at the Westin Resort’s Galleon Ballroom on Saturday, 7 December during Packet Pick Up from 9am to 3pm.

The Intertrust Cayman Islands Marathon is a Kelly Holding event and is sponsored by Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, Ministry of Sports, BritCay, Compass Media, Health City Cayman Islands, Milo, Gatorade, BOB FM, FastSigns, Cayman Airways, Bedell Cristin, Massive Group, Kelly Holding, eCayTrade, Cayman Islands Brewery, The Westin Grand Cayman, CUC, Cayman Physio, Sharkeez Bar & Grill, GNC, Mike’s Ice, Bliss Living Yoga, Quaker, Cost-U-Less, Smoothie King, Hopscotch Productions, Explore Events, Netclues and CINICO.

For more information, visit www.caymanislandsmarathon.com, email info@CaymanIslandsMarathon.com or call Bev Sinclair on 623-8825. Follow @CaymanMarathon on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.