Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (CCAM), one of the active environmental groups in Jamaica, had their second fund raising run yesterday. This was dubbed the a 7.5k Green run/walk to raise funds for protection of the Portland Bight which surely needs protection!
For this year like the first event last year, Fun and Thrills was
asked to marshal. A number of our members volunteered through the prompting of our own Nicole Brown.. The good news is that unlike last year, there were far more participants than marshals. Also quite a few of our own members entered and ran or walked the entire distance.
It appears they had close to a hundred participants this year and the route was also far more attractive, running from the Lionel Town Community Centre beside Bustamante High School to Portland Cottage Community Centre, across from the St. John's Anglican church.
Portland Cottage is in southern Clarendon south of Freetown. About five miles east you have the Portland Point Lighthouse and they also have a gun club and a small marina in the vicinity of that light house. To the south east there is also another gun club at Jackson Bay.
Portland Cottage is quite an unfortunate, for in 2004 Hurricane Ivan devastated the area killing 11 persons in the community of Village alone and in 2007, Hurricane Dean added to their sorrows and even now, they are barely recovering. For all over the place you see several buildings of various sizes and shapes which were destroyed and which people never bothered to try and rehabilitate.
The problem there is that it is extremely flat and the mangroves have been destroyed so as there is no longer any buffer, so every-time a hurricane hits the area, it does maximum damage.
I suppose it is because this situation has existed for such a long time why the young people refer to that area as "Salt Pond", not even recognising that it is the actual sea, not a little pond, right beside their homes and communities. According to Michael Chuck who knows the area well, they even used to mine salt in that section but it has not been too viable.
Anyway, the CCam fund raising event was quite good although it was almost an hour late in starting. I noticed too that like last year, there was no police presence and have to wonder why the Lionel town police had not offered any assistance in traffic control, although this route was not as heavily trafficked as the one they used from Vere to Lionel Town last year.
I had ridden down to the end alone before the race started and when they began, I started riding back. However I had not even gone a mile before seeing the first place winner, Fraser McCarthy of Portland Cottage, barreling down the road. The second place winner of the running segment never arrived until about 5 minutes after he did!! He seems to be the Bolt of 7k's!
Fun and Thrills entrants did quite well too although I don't really know how many got awards for performance, however I saw Bernadette and Lisa way up front.
While the official part of the function was underway, Chuck took us on a tour of Barmoth fishing beach about a mile up the road, where he was warmly welcomed by the fishermen. This fishing beach has a long strip with channels at the sides going out to sea. I had been told earlier that after hurricane Dean, that channel was nothing but mud and had to be dredged. Some fisher- folk lost boats which had been anchored in there too.
According to Chuck, to the north, there are quite a few islands even larger than Lime Cay with good swimming areas.
By the time we returned, the official prize giving was over but I understand the results will be posted on CCam's facebook page.
We were happy to help Nicole with this project and get another opportunity to go out of town, exercise and enjoy ourselves although it was father's day and some of our
dedicated fathers had to return early to be lauded by their families.
Photos provided by David Jo
For this year like the first event last year, Fun and Thrills was
 |
| You see many destroyed buildings like this in Portland Cottage and environs |
It appears they had close to a hundred participants this year and the route was also far more attractive, running from the Lionel Town Community Centre beside Bustamante High School to Portland Cottage Community Centre, across from the St. John's Anglican church.
Portland Cottage is in southern Clarendon south of Freetown. About five miles east you have the Portland Point Lighthouse and they also have a gun club and a small marina in the vicinity of that light house. To the south east there is also another gun club at Jackson Bay.
 |
| The sea and road are almost the same elevation. This is "Salt Pond" |
Portland Cottage is quite an unfortunate, for in 2004 Hurricane Ivan devastated the area killing 11 persons in the community of Village alone and in 2007, Hurricane Dean added to their sorrows and even now, they are barely recovering. For all over the place you see several buildings of various sizes and shapes which were destroyed and which people never bothered to try and rehabilitate.
The problem there is that it is extremely flat and the mangroves have been destroyed so as there is no longer any buffer, so every-time a hurricane hits the area, it does maximum damage.
I suppose it is because this situation has existed for such a long time why the young people refer to that area as "Salt Pond", not even recognising that it is the actual sea, not a little pond, right beside their homes and communities. According to Michael Chuck who knows the area well, they even used to mine salt in that section but it has not been too viable.
 |
| The marshals on tour of Barmoth fishing beach |
 |
| The channels beside the strip leading to the sea had to be dredged after Hurricane Dean. |
I had ridden down to the end alone before the race started and when they began, I started riding back. However I had not even gone a mile before seeing the first place winner, Fraser McCarthy of Portland Cottage, barreling down the road. The second place winner of the running segment never arrived until about 5 minutes after he did!! He seems to be the Bolt of 7k's!
Fun and Thrills entrants did quite well too although I don't really know how many got awards for performance, however I saw Bernadette and Lisa way up front.
 |
| Behind us are nice islands where we can swim and frolic, according to Chuck. |
According to Chuck, to the north, there are quite a few islands even larger than Lime Cay with good swimming areas.
By the time we returned, the official prize giving was over but I understand the results will be posted on CCam's facebook page.
We were happy to help Nicole with this project and get another opportunity to go out of town, exercise and enjoy ourselves although it was father's day and some of our
dedicated fathers had to return early to be lauded by their families.
Photos provided by David Jo
2 comments:
Not so sure about Portland Cottage being north of Freetown though. Portland Cottage is the southernmost point of Jamaica ..... everywhere else is roughly north.
Thanks Mark, but according to the map, it is Portland Point that is extreme south not Portland Cottage.
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