The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Colon Cancer Coalition hosted yet another successful Get Your Rear in Gear (GYRIG) event in memory of the late Andrea Darville and to raise awareness for colon cancer in The Bahamas.

With colon cancer being the second most common cancer in The Bahamas, event organisers hoped to gather lots of support from the general public for a worthy cause.

In only year two of the GYRIG 5k fun run/walk event, organisers were able to double the amount of participants in the colon cancer awareness event, making it a success.

The event kicked off at 6:30am sharp on Saturday at Goodman’s Bay Park with approximately 200 people joining this year’s 5k fun run/walk. Participants could be seen running or walking along the Baha Mar strip in their orange colon cancer t-shirts. Many of the participants in this year’s event decided to partake for personal reasons.

Duval Munnings, a participant in the 2023 GYRIG run, talked about why he decided to run in Saturday’s race. “I registered in honour of my father Kevin Munnings. I lost him a year ago and I just wanted to run in his honour and his memory and also to support the cancer society,” Munnings said.

Munnings said it felt good to give back and donate to the Cancer Society and, despite it being a difficult run, he enjoyed the fellowship among other runners.

Similar to Munnings, Odinga Sawyer, another participant in the race, shared what made him join this year’s GYRIG 5k run.

“It feels great. I like to support stuff like this, my brother passed from cancer and I also run so I figured if I could take part it might as well be for a good cause,” Sawyer said.

Event organisers Emily Darville and Jackie Evans were impressed with the amount of people that came out to support the event.

Emily Darville said a week before her sister passed away she had told her about the event idea and connected her with the director of the Colon Cancer Coalition, giving her the keys needed to make sure the event went on even in her passing.

“I would like to think Andrea is pleased with the work I’m doing. She entrusted me with her final project GYRIG Bahamas 5k fun run/walk. I’m sure she’s smiling down on us each year, cheering us on with her vibrant smile and personality,” Darville added.

Darville and other event organisers will seek to carry on Andrea’s legacy for years to come as they will look to host a 2024 GYRIG event. For persons that wish to keep up with the event, they can find the page on Facebook at Get Your Rear in Gear Bahamas.