Sports Recognition Awards |17 April 2023

Mr Melanie receiving his award from Minister Zialor (Photo: Roland Duval)

Enthusiastic runner Joel Melanie honoured

While most local athletes were home-bound, with curtains down on all sporting activities due to health restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, enthusiastic runner, as one-man army, was busy on the road, running for charity, with the aim of raising funds for financially-struggling associations towards infrastructure development or other facilities to provide long-term support for Seychellois families and children.

His courage, devotion and effort haven’t gone unnoticed as Mr Melanie has been honoured for his efforts which have surely made a huge difference in the lives of many.

Mr Melanie received a special award during a special ceremony held last Thursday at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay, to honour 46 athletes from 25 sports disciplines who bounced back in 2021 and came out stronger to perform above expectations in 2022, showing resilience, thus achieving outstanding results, both nationally and at international level.

Hosted by the National Sports Council (NSC), the ceremony was a sign of appreciation for their dedication and commitment during the post-Covid era following the re-introduction of sports.

The ceremony was attended by President Wavel Ramkalawan and Vice-President Ahmed Afif. Also present were Minister for Youth, Sports and Family Marie-Celine Zialor, principal secretary for youth and sports Ralph Jean-Louis, his counterparts from the family department Clive Roucou, and Kevin Perine from local government and community affairs, as well as the chief executive of the NSC Marc Arissol.

Speaking to Sports NATION, Mr Melanie said the acknowledgment shows that whatever he was doing has been appreciated, and recognised, while it has achieved its goal which is to make a difference in the lives of others.

He explained that during the pandemic, he had achieved the biggest feat of his charity project which was to run not only on Mahé, but also on Praslin and La Digue.

He said the recognition serves as a boost to continue with his project which, other than doing charitable work, helps him in his personal development.

His target now is to run the 21km race closer to a time of 2 hours.

During the restriction period, Mr Melanie successfully completed the last phase of his ‘Run for a good cause’ project, where the first race in the last phase of the project took place on La Digue and was nicknamed ‘Anmenn Mwan La Digue’ after the host island, while the second challenge – ‘Retourn Praslin’ – took place on Praslin.

The third and last race, another 21km challenge baptised ‘Mwa Retournen Victoria’ was from Stad Popiler to Anse Royale.

For 2023, Mr Melanie is already back on the road, having completed the first challenge for the year, under the theme ‘Making dreams come true’.

The challenge took place at Beau Vallon, gathering a total 115 runners who took part in the half-marathon (21km), the 10km and 5km challenges.

The event coincided with the previously-held Eco-Healing Marathon which used to take place at the same venue and on the same date.

For the 21km half-marathon, Mr Melanie clocked 2 hours, 30 minutes  43 seconds (2hr30:43), way off his personal best time which is 2h17:45 set last year.

Since last year, he has been performing his charity challenges as a team, under the umbrella of the Runners of Charity.

His next challenge is set for next Sunday, and the beneficiary will be the Diabetic Society of Seychelles.

Roland Duval