LIME, Anguilla, has undertaken to donate US$5,000 to the Anguilla Amateur Athletic Federation to cover the airfares and uniforms of the athletes and officials who will be participating in the CARIFTA Games in the Cayman Islands over the Easter weekend.

Presentation of cheque: L-R: Avon Carty, Rollins Richardson, Lorna Rogers and Mark Romney

The three athletes will be Shinelle Proctor who is on an athletics scholarship at the University of Illinois and who will be involved in high jump; Zharnel Hughes who will be participating in the 100 and 200 meters; and Kicio Walsh who will participate in the long jump. The two officials will be team leader, Wilma Proctor, and head coach, Rollins Richardson.

Avon Carty, the company’s Corporate Communications Manager in Anguilla, told reporters on Tuesday this week that LIME, as a regional telecommunications service provider, announced its support for the CARIFTA Games in October last year with a sponsorship sum of US$200,000. She said that the company had moved away from sponsoring cricket and instead had now become involved in the CARIFTA Games which were catering to many young people across the region. She was pleased that after consulting with the regional manager in Antigua, it was agreed that Anguillian athletes and others should be sponsored at the local level, thus the donation of the US$5,000.
Ms Carty said that the local donation was being replicated across the islands based on the size of the teams and the cost of travel from their respective locations to the Cayman Islands.

President of the Amateur Athletic Federation in Anguilla, Lorna Rogers, thanked LIME for its new involvement in athletics in the region and for the local support. “Anybody who is attending CARIFTA would realise that it is a highly-organised event and the performances are excellent,” Ms Rogers stated. “We always try to send our best athletes to CARIFITA…In terms of the US$5,000 sponsorship, we are more than grateful. It is always a struggle to raise funds and I must say the donation is timely.”

She thought it was important for the Anguillian athletes to get the necessary exposure and to take with them others who might not quite meet the standard in order for them to see what would be required of them.

LIME’s Country Manager in Anguilla, Mark Romney, took the opportunity to commend Shara Proctor, the Anguillian student and athlete at the University of Florida, for her dominance in long jump in particular, and for having laid the ground work for other local athletes. He hoped that there would be more Anguillians involved in the 100 and 200 sprints and looked forward to Anguilla having a great showing at the CARIFTA Games which Shara has now gone past, to compete in international events.

Meanwhile, Ms Rogers took the opportunity to encourage parents to support the athletic performances of their children in the same manner in which Wilma Proctor, Director of Sports, supports her two daughters, Shara and Shinelle Proctor.

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