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Contact:
Claudia Monlouis
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The Lime and Spoon Race was no lime for competitors |
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 – Communities in the south of the island
turned out in large numbers on Easter Monday to witness the first ever Seniors’
Games, which was held at the National Stadium in Vieux Fort.
Chief among their objectives, organizers of Easter Monday’s inaugural Seniors’
Games set out firstly, to dispel the negative impression of the elderly held by
certain sections of the public, and secondly to draw attention to the plight of
older persons.
Some of the outstanding performances of the day were given by seniors from the
communities of Mon Repos, Laborie and Vieux Fort. The Awards ceremony saw the
distribution of medals and trophies, which brought the curtains down on a
fun-filled, incident-free day, at the Vieux Fort Stadium.
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A section of the Mammoth crowd who turned out for the
Senior games |
Mary Pierre, Chairperson of the Seniors Games Organizing Committee, reflected
on the Club Sixty meetings where the event was conceptualised last year. “This
Sports Meet for Older Persons came out of a meeting with Club Sixty Leaders in
October of last year. They said that they would like to participate in a
sporting activity so a committee as formed to put in place this sport meet” she
explained.
Augustus Cadette, also of the Senior Games Organising Committee, says there is
need for older persons to be given greater regard in society, and is encouraged
by the large number of persons who turned out to witness the Games.
“We are looking at the plight of Older Persons in Saint Lucia. What we realise
is that older persons are among the marginalised in the community, they are
being relegated to the fringes, and the perception is that they are useless and
are therefore helpless. We thought that this sports meet would make a decisive
dent into that kind of thinking”, he said.
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