LONDON, 19 July 2012: Zharnel Hughes became the first recipient of the newly established Transmarinis Award at a ceremony held at the West India Committee inLondonon 19th July 2012.
The award, set up by Anguilla’s EU & UK Representative, Dorothea Hodge, recognises outstanding Anguillan achievement inEurope. The award name – Transmarinis – is the Latin for overseas, to signify both Anguilla’s status as a territory of theUnited Kingdomas well as the accomplishments of Anguillians away from home inEurope.
Zharnel Hughes collected the Transmarinis Award for his outstanding athletics form this year. The seventeen year-old sprinting sensation represented Anguilla at the World Youth Athletics Championships in Barcelona, where he broke Anguilla’s national record for 200m in 20.90 seconds, capping off a wonderful 2012 season that has seen him ranked third fastest 100m runner in the world for his age group.
‘Zharnel’s brilliance at such a young age is astounding’, said Dorothea Hodge, ‘he has already become a role model for aspiring young Anguillians, and has helped put ourIslandon the map’.
‘This is a great honour for Zharnel’, said his coach Winston Duncan, ‘our experience in Europe this summer has shown us how exceptional talent combined with hard work in training can pay off, and I’m sure that it won’t be too long until we see him running in the big leagues of senior competition’.
‘It has been wonderful to welcome Zharnel and his coach Winston to the West India Committee today to collect this award,’ said Blondel Cluff the CEO of the West India Committee, ‘it’s great to see such great young talent representing the Caribbean in Europe, and to show them how our organisation endeavours to promote the West Indies’.
– Press Release
