Sunday, July 29, marked the eighth year that the National Bank of Anguilla has sponsored the Annual Peter Perkins Memorial Boat Race at Sandy Ground.
For the first several years, NBA also sponsored a series of village games at Sandy Ground, as part of the boat race, but later discontinued those events.
NBA’s Market Research and Business Development Support Officer, Desyln Smith, spoke to The Anguillian about the bank’s involvement. “We opted out of having the village games, for about two or three years, but we are continuing with the boat race,” she said. “Boat-racing is a major part of the Anguillian culture and we want to preserve the legacy. It is a sport that everybody loves.The Boat-racing Committee is always ready to host the Peter Perkins Race on a yearly basis and we keep coming on board to support it.”
There were a total of eight boats in the race. Sonic, owned by Paul Romney, placed first and won the championship trophy. In second place was Real Deal owned by Whitty Hodge; and placing third was De Tree which belongs to the Blowing Point Community. The fourth and fifth places were taken by the Wizzard and Light-N-Peace, both owned by Albert Hughes.
“The National Bank would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Paul Romney, and the Boat Racing Committee, for once again hosting the Peter Perkins Race,” Mrs. Smith further stated.“We are aware that the boat racers and their fans thoroughly enjoy it and are excited about it each year. So, as a bank of the community, we are always there to come on board for events such as this and to keep the culture alive.”
Speaking in his role as President of the Anguilla Boat Racing Committee, Mr.Romney said: “We are very pleased to have the National Bank ofAnguillasponsoring the Annual Peter Perkins Boat Race for the eighth time. We look forward again next year for the support of the bank, and assure NBA that we are willing and able to host the event as boat racers in Anguilla.”
The championship trophy was presented by Mrs. Smith, on behalf of NBA, to Kerril (Bamby) Lewis, a representative of the Sonic racing boat which has been the winner of the race for three years.
