The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE she celebrated her 29th birthday on Monday in transit from the Bahamas to Europe, sprinter Anthonique Strachan added another feather to her cap when she was elected as a Member-at-Large for the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletes’ Commission.

The elections took place on Sunday during the NACAC Open Championships held in Grand Bahama at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex over the weekend.

O’Dayne Richards of Jamaica was elected to serve as the chairperson.

Joining Strachan as Members-at-Large are Jehue Gordon from Trinidad & Tobago, Ayanna Morgan from Barbados, William Leer from the United States of America and Kurt Felix of Grenada.

“I’m excited for it,” said Strachan, who also serves as the athletes’ representative for the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations. “I like to be in the know for sports and more specifically track and field since it’s my main source of livelihood. I also enjoy helping and standing up for my fellow athletes.”

As she now joggles her time between the BAAA and NACAC, Strachan said she wants to learn as much as she can, although she admits that it will be a challenge still competing as a full-time athlete.

“It’s already a lot and I don’t know how hard or time consuming this new position is as yet,” she said. “I have so many recommendations, but I would like to learn and become diverse in other problems in the sport.

“So, I would like to educate myself on everything in the NACAC region so I can bring it back to help better local sports at home while helping in any small way in the athletes’ commission in NACAC.”

Coming off a quad injury she sustained in the heats of the 200m at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, Strachan just missed out of a chance to advance to the final of the women’s 100 metres after she placed fourth in her heat in 11.48 seconds at the NACAC Championships.

But she did come back and run the second leg on the Bahamas women’s 4 x 100m relay team of Printassia Johnson, Devynne Charlton and Tynia Gaither, which claimed the silver medal in 43.34 behind the American’s gold rush in 42.35 and just ahead of Jamaica, who got the bronze in 43.39.

As the night concluded, Strachan spent Sunday with some of her friends and team-mates in a pre-birthday celebration. She left Grand Bahama on her birthday on Monday for Europe for further rehab and possibly a chance to compete again before the season winds down.

“I am attempting to get back in form to where I was pre-injury,” she said.

“I had a plan and made myself a promise so I’m trying and fighting teeth and nails to keep it.

“My word is my bond, especially to myself. And no, I can’t say what that promise, or goal is. It’s personal. But I just want to get back or as close to where I was before the injury and to finish the season strong.”

Before the injury, Strachan had become the seventh Bahamian to eclipse the 11-second barrier in the 100m. She ran 10.98 on July 17 at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon to match the lifetime best of Shaunae Miller-Uibo on July 20, 2020, at the National Training Centre in Clermont, Florida.

Chandra Sturrup still holds the national record at 10.84, which she established on July 5, 2005, in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is followed by Savatheda Fynes with 10.91 on July 2, 1999, in Lausanne as well. Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie is third with 10.91 from July 27, 2002, in Manchester, England with Eldece Clarke fourth with 10.96 from April 29, 2000, in Fort-de- France, France and Pauline Davis is sitting in fifth with 10.97 done here in Nassau on July 21, 2000.

Strachan has posted a personal best of 22.32 on June 22, 2013, in Nassau in the 200m and in the 400m, she ran 52.42 on June 11, 2016, in Montverde, Florida. While she has yet to win a global medal as an elite athlete after earning the double gold in the 100m and 200m at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, the former World Athletics’ Rising Star is still working on getting back to her peak form.

She is a training partner of Shericka Jackson in Jamaica. Jackson is listed as the second fastest woman in the world in the 200m at 21.45, trailing only American Florence Griffith-Joyner, the world record holder at 21.34.

Jackson won the 100m at the NACAC Championships over the weekend.