Hello fellow Sandyport residents! I wanted to let all of you know what will be going on this Sunday, January 16th. An international marathon will be running right past Sandyport! You may have seen the signs on West Bay Street for Marathon Bahamas, and many of you may remember the inaugural event last year in February. It was a fantastic event last year, and this year should be even better.
We would love for you to come to W. Bay St., either at the front entrance of Sandyport or by the Club One (old Bally’s) gym to cheer for all of the runners. The management of Sandyport requests that you refrain from sitting or standing on the beautiful new grass that was just planted. You might consider bringing some folding chairs to sit on, and cowbells or any other noise makers you have around the house (leftover New Year’s noisemakers are perfect!). It is also fun for the runners to see you holding large signs with your own words of inspiration! The race begins at Arawak Cay, goes into town, and then comes west as far as Nirvana before turning back to finish at Arawak Cay, so those runners participating in the full marathon and the marathon relay will pass Sandyport twice. The event starts at 6am, and the runners should be running past Sandyport starting from about 7am. The race finishes at 1pm.
Just like last year, W. Bay St. will be closed to traffic. Officially the road is closed from midnight Saturday, but in actuality the road will be open for local residents. Even once the race is started, the road will be intermittently passable. You may have to wait a bit to get in and out of Sandyport if there is a large group of runners going by, so plan for this delay if you are trying to get somewhere such as church at a specific time. They will probably divert you off of W. Bay St. as soon as possible (for example they may route you through Westridge, or Skyline Drive). The goal of the police is to keep the marathon participants safe and the local residents happy. They were able to accomplish this quite well last year, so it should be fine again this year. I still would recommend staying home on Sunday morning unless you absolutely must go out, as the diversions may make your trip slow going. Enjoy the event, bring a picnic and come cheer for the runners. They will really appreciate it, and you will have a great time! Maybe you will even be inspired to run it next year!
Thanks for your patience and cooperation with this event. We really appreciate it!
Sincerely,
Kathryn de Souza, MD
Acting Medical Director, Marathon Bahamas