The Tribune

By Brent Stubbs

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Here to celebrate the 60th birthday of her mother Laura Charlton this weekend, Bahamian national women’s 100 metres hurdles record holder Devynne Charlton and her American training partner Masai Russell hosted a free, one-day camp for girls.

More than 20 young girls participated in the event yesterday at the original Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium. The idea wasn’t conceived until Charlton and Russell both arrived in town on Wednesday and their father David Charlton suggested they host the camp.

The wheels started spinning in motion.

“It’s been on my mind for a while to do something like this and so it was a no brainer,” Charlton said. “I was kind of overwhelmed by the amount of young ladies who showed up in such a short notice.”

Once her schedule permits, Charlton said she would de nitely like to be back to put on a camp on a bigger scale and hopefully with more promotion and even extending it to the sprints so they can draw a larger crowd.

Russell, who came to town to support the Charltons in the birthday celebrations, said she jumped at the idea of assisting the hurdlers in the camp because it showed the impact that they have had on their lives.

“These girls are taking in all of the information. They are great athletes. We’re doing it for free. We’re not doing it for anything else. We are doing it for the love of the sport. So whatever we can do for the kids is just great.”

From what she’s seen, Russell said she was more than impressed because the girls possessed more skills than she did when she was their age.

Charlton said from the athleticism that they showed, she too was rather impressed. “When I was their age, we had maybe two or three of us consistently training for the hurdles, but now I’m coming out and I’m seeing hurdlers at just about every track meet with three or four heats,” she reflected.

“It speaks to what me and the other ladies have done for the sport because more young ladies are coming out to participate.”

Dave Charlton, a former 400 metre hurdler, said it was something that came in the spur of the moment when the two athletes arrived in town.

He noted that they are excited about sharing with some of the future hurdlers for the Bahamas. “It’s rare that you have two world-class athletes, who are top 10 in the world, to be able to share with these youngsters,” said Charlton, the founder and head coach of Star Trackers Track Club. “I’m very proud of my daughter Devynne and her friend Masai, who are two very talented ladies.”

Laura Charlton said it was “good to see the professional athletes come back and give back and touch and feel and be among the younger athletes to inspire them and encourage them.”

She said this only reminds the younger girls that these athletes were once where they are and they can only inspire them to become as great or even greater than they are.

As she celebrates her 60 years or six perfect 10 birthdays this weekend, she said she was elated that

they got a chance to host the clinic and she could only wish them all the best.

She noted that her younger daughter Anthaya and her oldest daughter Lauren will also be in town for the celebrations.

Darvinique Dean, one of the rising talented hurdlers who is coming off a great season, said it was an honour to be a part of the camp because it provided her with an opportunity to work on her technique going into next season.

“They are great role models for me. I watched them a lot and I’m glad that Devynne came back and showed us how she does it so we can be great too,” said the 15-year-old 10th grader at St Augustine’s College and a member of Red-Line Athletics Track Club.

One of the coaches on hand was former hurdler Neketa Sears Knowles, who just formed the Speed Capacity Maximised Track Club last year. She brought along two of her members to gain some of the knowledge being passed on.

“This is excellent. I was not going to allow them to miss this opportunity,” she said. “To have two world- class athletes here doing a free clinic, you couldn’t beat that. The exposure is important and to have this opportunity to learn from them, I wasn’t going to let them miss this.”

As training partners in Kentucky at the University of Kentucky under the supervision of Bahamian head coach ‘Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene, it was more like a match made in heaven. “We’ve been training together for four years now and I couldn’t ask for no better training partner,” Charlton said. “We came here on vacation and decided to do this at the last minute. But I think it’s very signi cant to have two world class hurdlers come here and have a clinic at the same time is pretty cool.”

To be her training partner is something that Russell said she cherishes just as much.

“We’ve been training together for four years, but it really took off last year and now we are seeing the great things we are doing together,” Russell pointed out.

“To see someone who you work closely with doing some amazing things and then to do some funs things like this is just amazing.”

Both competitors are eager to see how well they can progress up the ladder on the global stage after the season they enjoyed this year.

“I’m trending upwards. I was fourth at the World Championships this year so the only place left is to get a medal,” Charlton said. “We talked about it, Our goal is to be on the podium.”

After she made her first World Championship after she completed her tenure at Kentucky, Russell said she’s following in the footsteps of Charlton.

“I saw her do the Olympics. I saw her do the World Championships for the past two years, so it’s just good to have a mentor like this to look up to and to talk to. We’re both going to get a medal next year. I’m not even going to doubt that.”

Charlton, 27, is a silver medallist at the World Indoor Championships and the Commonwealth Games last year. She has produced a lifetime best of 12.44, the Bahamian national record. She also ran 23.61 in the 200m (2305 wind-aided).

Russell, 23, was the NCAA Indoor Championship runner-up and the NCAA Outdoor Championship champion. She has a personal best of 12.36 (12.32 wind-aided) and she has also ran 54.66 in the 400m hurdles, in addi- tion to 11.54 in the 100m, 23.26 in the 200m and 56.26 in the 400m.

They both competed together on the global stage this year in Budapest, Hungary, where Charlton got fourth in the final, while Russell advanced to the semi final but didn’t get to complete her race.

Russell was also in the relay pool for the United States team at the championships.