SIMPSON BAY--A number of route changes are in place for this year’s 30th Around-the-Island Race taking place on Saturday, November 11, the board of St. Maarten Road Runners announced.
There will be 11 legs and 11 runners per team. The format remains the same in that each team must have two members of the opposite sex. The 2016 event in which 46 teams took part was won by the InselAir Curaçao team in 1:53:14.
The first change is to the first leg, where the change-over point has been moved from Divico on Union Road, Cole Bay, to Carrefour Supermarket higher up on Union Road, to extend the leg to 4.9K.
“At that time of the morning there’s more space at Carrefour for the timekeepers to see the runners coming in, and it will generally be less congested than at Divico,” explained Roadrunners board member Susy Piscione. “The second leg then becomes much shorter and takes the runners over the Causeway Bridge, go around the roundabout, and back over the Causeway Bridge to cross the border towards Marigot. The change-over is just past the border before Senator Brooks’ House. This is a nice short, flat leg suitable for sprinters or slower runners.”
The next change is in Marigot. Instead of runners changing over opposite Tri Sport on Rue de Hollande, they will turn left into Rue de La République, run past the ferry terminal and West Indies Mall, and out onto the Galis Bay back road to Omnisports Hall, where the change-over will take place just before it. Here again there is more space and less traffic and congestion. This leg is also a little shorter.
All the other legs remain the same. The Causeway Bridge will be closed to traffic on the morning of the event. With the changes mentioned, Susy estimated the total distance of the event will be approximately 3K longer than before.
The registration fee this year has been increased to US 220 per team, but all proceeds will be going to a worthy cause, as usual.
“Everybody will get a commemorative medal as a finisher to go along with the commemorative T-shirt and breakfast,” Susy added. “Teams need to be recruiting their runners now to work out who is going to run which leg, and start training.”
Special prizes remain the same; Best Dressed Team, and Special Feat Award which either goes to a team or an individual who has done something extraordinary, and deserves recognition. People are asked to send in their recommendations to organisers, so a vote can be done in advance.
Registration will take place at both Tri Sport locations, and opens from October 9, through November 6, 2017.
