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| Tahesia Harrigan competing at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain when she ran 7.21 in the opening round. Photo>Kirby Lee |
TORTOLA—The British Virgin Islands’ World Indoor Track and Field Championship bronze medallist Taheisa Harrigan, will be welcomed home today for the first time after making history as the territory’s first medalist at a World Championships event.
Harrigan is expected to arrive at 3:30 p.m. at the Terrence Lettsome Airport, where she will be welcomed by Sports Minister Andrew Fahie. A motorcade to the Government’s Central Administration Complex in Road Town followed by a public ceremony, where Premier Ralph T. O’Neal, Fahie, BVI Amateur Athletic Association president Ephraim Penn and Harrigan will speak.
“I commend Ms. Harrigan for her determination and her achievements at the elite level of sports,” Fahie said in a prepared statement. “Her exemplary performance in athletics is a shining example of how participation in sports contributes to overall wellness and success.”
Fahie said Harrigan has done the BVI proud and she deserves to be honored in the Territory. The sports minister said she is a role model for many especially the upcoming young athletes and that Government will continue to be committed to the development of sports in the BVI.
“Government is firmly committed not only to the development of sports in the Territory but to promoting and supporting our athletes because we recognize the importance of sports in a society,” he said.
Harrigan will participate in tomorrow’s 9 a.m. ceremony that will officially open the eight lane rubberized Mondo track at the A. O. Shirley Recreation Grounds. The ceremony will be followed by the 37th Elmore Stoutt High School inter-house athletic championships, where members of the first track and field team to travel abroad in 1970, will be honored as well.
Harrigan ran a national record time of 7.09 seconds, to claim the bronze medal in Valencia, Spain on March 7. The BVI—the smallest country to ever win a medal at the championships—joins Dominica, Grenada, and St. Kitts, as the OECS countries that have won medals at the World Sr. Championships.
