Joel Melanie – ‘We all have Dreams’ charity challenge New 21km personal time set |30 April 2022
Joel Melanie and NSC chief executive Jen Larue posing in front of one of the plaques near the sand pit
- Deceased past athletes honoured
Last Sunday was a day of double achievements for local enthusiast runner Joel Melanie as he improved his personal time in the 21km challenge, and together with his group ‘Runners of Charity’ fixedtwo commemorative plaques in honour of deceased athletes Danny Beauchamp and Arthur Agathine.
Sunday’s race was the first for Mr Melanie under the umbrella of the newly-registered ‘Runners of Charity’, after previously running on his own during his prior project.
A total of 18 runners were on the starting line of the 21km challenge which began and ended at Stad Popiler.
From the stadium, the group headed south towards the Roche Caïman roundabout and then made their way back to town before heading north via the Laurier Road to Persévérance all the way to the Autism Support Centre at North East Point. They then turned to head back to Stad Popiler via the same route.
Mr Melanie completed the run in 2 hours, 19 minutes 07 seconds (2h19:07), to better his time of 2h19:47 set on August 29, 2021.
Once at Stad Popiler, the second part of the activity took place where the two commemorative plaques were fixed at the stadium to honour the two past athletes who contributed greatly towards local track and field athletics, at both local and international levels.
Chief executive of the National Sports Council Jean Larue placed the plaque for the late Agathine, while former female long and triple jumper Beryl Laramé had the honour of placing the one to honour the late Beauchamp.
Once again, Mr Melanie noted that the aim of the ‘Runners of Charity’ is to encourage sportsmanship beyond competitive sports, create a platform to bring long-distance s runners together and support projects to make a difference and give back to the community.
He welcomed all athletes from other sporting federations to join them during their events, without having to leave their respective sports.
Roland Duval
