In October the Grand Bahama Children's Home will officially commemorate 25 years of care to abandoned, abused and neglected children of Grand Bahama. In recognition of this historic event the Home's fundraising committee has commissioned a 25th Anniversary booklet and will also have a fundraising cocktail party at the home.

"We have had such wonderful support over the years and great fun at our luncheons, but a lot of Bahamians have not seen the home they have helped to build," stated Lady Henrietta. "This year, we want the community to come to the Children's Home and see what their support has created and helped maintain."

So on Friday, October 21st Lady Henrietta will open the doors of the home to the public and throw a fundraising cocktail party under a Pirates Adventure theme. With the assistance of Pirates of the Caribbean movie crew and great support from local caterers and businesses the night is expected to be great fun with a special surprise for all!

"It takes a special event to celebrate 25 years of caring for incredible children," stated Andrea Thompson, Committee Member and this year's food coordinator. Grand Bahama should get ready to enjoy a lighthearted event with lots of the children's participation to make it all happen which will include an exclusive show by the Home's children organised and choreographed by fellow Committee Member Karen Bain Ferguson.

This year's committee has also been working hard to create a 25th Anniversary booklet to commemorate the many years of service by Lady Henrietta, the present committee, former committee members, administrators, the house parents and supervisors, volunteers, long term donors and of course the kids. "It is our aim to raise over $30,000 with this booklet, with all profits going to the home. This will help pay for basic food needs, toiletries, clothes and other necessities it takes to run our centre daily," stated Sarah Kirkby, book co-editor along with Lesley Davies-Baptista. "We hope the corporate community will all make an effort to support these beautiful, needy children."

The commemorative booklet will be released at the Pirates Adventure cocktail party reception in October. While tickets do not go on sale until the end of the month, the committee wanted to advise all Bahamians of the date so that they can mark it on their calendars and make every effort to attend this great night of fun at the Home. "The most important part of the event though is the cause, our beloved children. It is they who we want to support, so we encourage everyone to try and attend," summarised Mrs Yvette McSweeny, long serving executive member and chairperson of the 25th Anniversary Committee.

For more information about the event or to find out how to be a sponsor in the commemorative booklet, interested persons can contact Sarah Kirkby at Barefoot Marketing (352-4578) or go online to the Home's website http://www.gbchildrenshome.com.

[OPINION] Bahamas Minister Leslie Miller has Chutzpah. From a press release on the PLP website, "Minister Leslie Miller on Monday announced a new round of gas price increases, indicating that one company has received approval to raise the cost on a gallon of gasoline to $4.77.

Approval from whom? The press release is silent on this because the "approval" was given by the Bahamas government.

Again quoting the press release: "These increases are truly amazing, since prices in The Bahamas are going up by more than 75 cents while prices in Florida reduced by about six cents on the weekend," the Minister said."

"Amazing?"

Bear in mind that the Bahamas government initiates price controls -- regulates how much profit gas merchants can make -- and that the final price of gas in the Bahamas is set by the government. In fact, one dollar or more of what Bahamians pay for a gallon of gasoline goes into the government's coffers. That's why gas is over $4 a gallon here when it is less than $3 a gallon in Miami. This duty money goes to pay the salaries of Ministers who give us such wisdom as that the price increases that he approved are "amazing." (Less than half that amount goes to the local suppliers--which begs the question: who is the real one guilty of "gouging"?)

In the long run--barring government intervention--the price of energy will drop as supply increases due to the new entrants who enter the energy market who are attracted by the higher than normal profits in the energy industry. Unfortunately in the Bahamas, the number of entrants is limited by the Bahamas government.

What should the government do? For starters, the government should drop the tax on gasoline which presently is around $1.07 per gallon (this figure does not include the stamp tax). Secondly, the government should outlaw fuel monopolies that exist in the Bahamas that keep prices high. It can so this by permitting the free entry of more competitors into the Bahamian gas market.

Of course, with less funds expropriated from the Bahamian public through taxation, politicians will have to cut back on their expenditures -- which means less "free lunches" for their political supporters who fund their campaigns for political power.

Writes Carlton Smith, Deputy General Manager of the state owned Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas in this Tuesday's Tribune on why ZNS should be privatized:

Like the major newspapers the public has always linked ZNS News to a political party, more specifically the government of the day. That in itself has compromised the integrity of the organization and in certain cases journalists. It makes it very difficult for the public to believe that the Corporation can be impartial, particularly on political issues.

Many felt that with the coming of private broadcasting breaking the monopoly of the Corporation, it would be forced to change its operation. More than 12 years later it has not happened. ZNS remains a state run organization that despite the intention of any government cannot work in the public interest… [We] now need to work to restore the integrity of the profession. We cannot be in bed with politicians, corporate business executives and other individuals and get the respect and confidence of the public who depend on us to provide accurate information to help in their decision making process.

…Journalists in both the print and electronic media have historically been very vocal about their support for a particular party and that has and continues to undermine the integrity of the profession. [This] is too vital a sector to continue to be used as a transient stepping stone for those with personal agendas and other aspirations. It must be seen as the most important entity promoting democracy while defending the rights of Bahamians.

[BIS] NASSAU, The Bahamas --- Taking a proactive approach towards ensuring that visitors to the Bahamas are provided with the safest environment possible, the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) and the Ministry of Tourism have teamed up with business and civic partners to establish the Bahamas Visitor Safety and Security Board.

The plans for the initiative are being developed at a daylong workshop this Thursday, September 22nd which will focus on the range of issues and activities which are important to the safety of our visitors and towards safeguarding our nation's economy.

"This is an idea whose time has come," stated Ministry of Tourism Director General Vernice Walkine, who first discussed it with Police Commissioner Paul Farquharson a few months ago and discovered that they both had similar thoughts.

"Surveys in the United States reveal that safety has become the primary issue of importance when choosing a travel destination. While the Bahamas is relatively safe, given the large number of visitors which we have, it is our goal to ensure that the question of safety is far removed from every visitor's mind," added Ms. Walkine.

Commissioner Farquharson echoed Ms. Walkine's comments adding, "The safety and security of our visitors must be everyone's business, just as tourism is everyone's business. We are all stakeholders." Having looked at partnership models elsewhere throughout the world, the Commissioner and Director General are convinced that collaboration between all stakeholders is key to improving visitor safety and has invited a range of stakeholders to assist in planning the new initiative.

"We need the ideas, the energy and the goodwill of stakeholders, public and private, to put this effort together and sustain it" stated the Commissioner. He has already pledged resources to the new effort.

Over 200 people will participate in the planning session including representatives from the Police, Defence Force, the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Tourism, the Attorney-General's Office, key Government Departments, the United States Embassy, the Bahamas Hotel Association, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, the Nassau Tourism & Development Board, union, transportation, vendor and security interest. Grand Bahama and the Family Islands will also be well represented.

Participants will focus on five critical areas to identify priority activities which can be undertaken to improve visitor safety. These will include: education and training; public awareness; advocacy; environmental design support measures; and communication and coordination. In addition, the participants will help to establish the structure of the Bahamas Visitor Safety and Security Board, a newly established public-private sector entity which will help to guide the range of new initiatives.

"We will be unleashing the creative energies of the workshop participants to help put this new initiative in place," stated Ms. Walkine. "This is just the beginning. The Ministry of Tourism and the Royal Bahamas Police Force are committed to the effort and we are encouraged by the initial support we have received from groups like the Hotel Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the Nassau Tourism & Development and Safe Bahamas."

TCS has an interview with Meteorologist Dr. William Gray one of the world's most famous hurricane experts. More than two decades ago, as professor of atmospheric science and head of the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University, he pioneered the science of hurricane forecasting. Here are some excerpts:

[...] Glassman: Now, my question is in the wake of Katrina and some of the statements that we've heard immediately afterwards by advocates of the global warming theory -- is global warming behind this increase in hurricanes?

Gray: I am very confident that it's not. I mean we have had global warming. That's not a question. The globe has warmed the last 30 years, and the last 10 years in particular. And we've had, at least the last 10 years, we've had a pick up in the Atlantic basin major storms. But in the earlier period, if we go back from 1970 through the middle '90s, that 25 year period -- even though the globe was warming slightly, the number of major storms was down, quite a bit down.

Now, another feature of this is that the Atlantic operates differently. The other global storm basins, the Atlantic only has about 12 percent of the global storms. And in the other basins, the last 10 years -- even though the Atlantic major storm activity has gone up greatly the last 10 years. In the other global basins, it's slightly gone down. You know, both frequency and strength of storms have not changed in these other basins. If anything, they've slightly gone down. So if this was a global warming thing, you would think, "Well gee, all of the basins should be responding much the same."

Glassman: You're familiar with what your colleagues believe. Do you think many hurricane experts would take a different point of view, and would say, "Oh, it's global warming that's causing hurricanes?"

Gray: No. All my colleagues that have been around a long time -- I think if you go to ask the last four or five directors of the national hurricane center -- we all don't think this is human-induced global warming. And, the people that say that it is are usually those that know very little about hurricanes. I mean, there's almost an equation you can write the degree to which you believe global warming is causing major hurricanes to increase is inversely proportional to your knowledge about these storms.

Now there's a few modelers around who know something about storms, but they would like to have the possibility open that global warming will make for more and intense storms because there's a lot of money to be made on this. You know, when governments step in and are saying this -- particularly when the Clinton administration was in -- and our Vice President Gore was involved with things there, they were pushing this a lot. You know, most of meteorological research is funded by the federal government. And boy, if you want to get federal funding, you better not come out and say human-induced global warming is a hoax because you stand the chance of not getting funded.

[...] I am convinced myself that in 15 or 20 years, we're going to look back on this and see how grossly exaggerated it all was. The humans are not that powerful. These greenhouse gases, although they are building up, they cannot cause the type of warming these models say -- two to five degrees centigrade with a doubling of the greenhouse gases.

It was American Junior and #1 seed Donald Young who got the bulk of the press and hoopla in the 2005 U.S. Open Boy's Juniors. It was unseeded Bahamian Ryan Sweeting (who holds dual citizenship with the Bahamas and the U.S.) who got to take home the winner's trophy. From MSN:

It was the first hurdle that was the hardest for Ryan Sweeting.

"I was down five match points and pulled through the match and went on to win the title,'' Sweeting said on Sunday. "I could have been out the first round, just like that.''

Instead, the 18-year-old from the Bahamas is the U.S. Open Junior Boys champion after pulling off yet another upset, defeating seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-4.

"I didn't even think I was capable of winning this tournament,'' Sweeting said. "My goal coming in wasn't to win. It was just to give 100 percent and play my best because that's the only thing you can do.''

Ranked No. 17 by the International Tennis Federation, Sweeting was unseeded in the 64-player singles field. He started off by fighting off five match points and upsetting No. 12-seeded Carsten Ball of Australia, winning the third set in a tiebreak.

Then came victories over Andrea Arnaboldi of Italy; Holden Seguso of the United States; No. 3-seeded Leonard Mayer of Argentina and No. 6-seeded Sun-Yong Kim of South Korea before he took on Chardy.

"You want to win, obviously, but that's not really something you can control,'' the right-hander said. "The only thing you can control is playing your best, and that's what I did.

"It worked this week, and I'm just so happy.''

Serving for the match, Sweeting jumped out to a 40-love lead.

"Then I made the mistake of thinking I was already there,'' he said. "Then it got back to 40-30. I went to get my towel and started to calm down a little bit. Just said, 'I have to do it here. I don't want to get him back to deuce.

"I just bombed a serve and that was it. It was just a great feeling.''

Sweeting fell onto his back in relief, then got up and rushed to the stands to hug his coach, Nicolas Guizar, who flew to New York in time to see Sweeting play his semifinal match on Saturday. Then he ran to the other side of the court and embraced his mother.

He said the victory may cause him to change his plans for the future.

"It definitely puts a question mark on it,'' he said. "It doesn't necessarily change everything, but we're definitely going to have to sit down and talk about it. I don't think too many champions of the U.S. Open go on to college in a couple of months. But we'll just see what happens.''

Grand Bahama's ailing economy received a shot in the arm on Monday with the announcement of another multimillion-dollar investment project. [...] The New Hope Holding Company, developers of real estate and marinas, aims to build a condo hotel of some 120 rooms and a number of high-end homes in Freeport.

According to Chairman of the Board Erik Christiansen, New Hope Holding will also further develop the Lucaya area where it owns a fair share of land along the canal.
The goal is to begin the five-year project before the end of the year, investing anywhere between $220 million and $250 million.

Mr. Christiansen has however stressed that his company's development will be "a little different" from others. "We don't believe in the large, tall buildings on an island like Grand Bahama. We like to build more Bahamian-looking properties that would make the tourists who come and visit with us feel that they are abroad and not just somewhere else in Miami," Mr. Christiansen told the media while his partner, President of the Lucayan Marina Village, Jim Goodrum, looked on.

Mr. Christiansen also revealed that only one of the company's labourers requires a work permit. "This is not because we are do-gooders or because we think that thats how we should do it, but because it is simply dumb not to," Mr. Christiansen said.

"Bahamians are good business people and why should we not have them as part of our workforce? They have been doing a terrific job of first class quality."

The company constructed Grand Bahama's Pelican Bay boutique hotel, which was recently turned over to European investors with the expectation that the property would improve the number of European tourists visiting The Bahamas, particularly Grand Bahama. It still however maintains ownership of the Ferry House restaurant.

News of the development comes one year after Hurricane Frances battered Grand Bahama, leaving thousands homeless and an economy still struggling to recover. According to Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, the very first property to be up and running after the storm was Pelican Bay. "This was because Mr. Christiansen took the position that it was no time to close shop. Instead, they were very aggressive in letting the country and the world know that Freeport and Grand Bahama were alive," Minister Wilchcombe recalled. "He has taken this position because today he recognizes that Lucaya and Grand Bahama need additional economic activity. He also appreciates that tourism in Grand Bahama can be even more successful."

According to the Minister, the tourism industry is presently suffering because of a lack of inventory. But he said, "There are presently 2,400 hotel rooms" all of which are doing better than what we have seen in a long time in terms of occupancy levels. Room rates are also doing better than what we have had in the past and that is particularly because of the film industry and the fact that we do have airlift that is servicing the islands.

"But we do not have the rooms we require. Rooms are down because of Royal Oasis and so there is a need for additional rooms in Grand Bahama so today is very significant for Freeport, for Lucaya and Grand Bahama as a whole and I believe it is a step forward in the new thrust of development required for this island." [Sources: Bahamas Government]

From Peggy Noonan at Opinion Journal:

As for the tragic piggism that is taking place on the streets of New Orleans, it
is not unbelievable but it is unforgivable, and I hope the looters are shot. A
hurricane cannot rob a great city of its spirit, but a vicious citizenry can.
[...] There seems to be some confusion in terms of terminology on TV. People
with no food and water who are walking into supermarkets and taking food and
water off the shelves are not criminal, they are sane. They are not looters,
they are people who are attempting to survive; they are taking the basics of
survival off shelves in stores where there isn't even anyone at the cash
register. Looters are not looking to survive; they're looking to take advantage
of the weakness of others. They are predators. They're taking not what they need
but what they want. They are breaking into stores in New Orleans and elsewhere
and stealing flat screen TVs and jewelry, guns and CD players. They are breaking
into homes and taking what those who have fled trustingly left behind. In
Biloxi, Miss., looters went from shop to shop. "People are just casually walking
in and filling up garbage bags and walking off like they're Santa Claus," the
owner of a Super 8 Motel told the London Times. On CNN, producer Kim Siegel
reported in the middle of the afternoon from Canal Street in New Orleans that
looters were taking "everything they can."

][Cartoon by Cox and Forkum]

This story from the AP describes the scene.

With much of the city flooded by Hurricane Katrina, looters floated garbage cans filled with clothing and jewelry down the street in a dash to grab what they
could. In some cases, looting on Tuesday took place in full view of police and
National Guard troops. At a Walgreen's drug store in the French Quarter, people
were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and
diapers. When police finally showed up, a young boy stood in the door screaming,
"86! 86!" - the radio code for police - and the crowd scattered. Denise
Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, stood outside and snapped pictures in
amazement. "It's downtown Baghdad," the housewife said. "It's insane. I've
wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I
guess not."

Around the corner on Canal Street, the main thoroughfare in the
central business district, people sloshed headlong through hip-deep water as
looters ripped open the steel gates on the front of several clothing and jewelry
stores. One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was
asked if he was salvaging things from his store. "No," the man shouted, "that's
EVERYBODY'S store."

Looters filled industrial-sized garbage cans with
clothing and jewelry and floated them down the street on bits of plywood and
insulation as National Guard lumbered by. Mike Franklin stood on the trolley
tracks and watched the spectacle unfold. "To be honest with you, people who are
oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," he
said. A man walked down Canal Street with a pallet of food on his head. His
wife, who refused to give her name, insisted they weren't stealing from the
nearby Winn-Dixie supermarket. "It's about survival right now," she said as she
held a plastic bag full of purloined items. "We got to feed our children. I've
got eight grandchildren to feed."

Comments Don Watkins:

What's interesting about this story is what it reveals about man's need for a moral sanction. Men will not act without some sense that what they're doing is right. I don't mean that men automatically act according to what they believe is moral -- I mean that even when they act against their knowledge of the good, they have to evade that knowledge and find a rationalization to justify it. (Notice, here, the usefulness of altruism in providing such rationalizations.) Man's psychological need for a moral sanction is so strong that even criminals can't escape it. The most vicious criminals, rapists and child molesters included, will go to fantastic lengths to convince themselves that their actions are in some sense noble.

[P]eople who are raiding stores for food and other necessities in order to survive during an emergency are doing nothing wrong. That's true, but even there, once life returns to normal, they have an obligation to repay the stores (or at least offer to). The same holds true for any emergency. It is proper to do what you have to do in order to survive, but if that involves violating someone's rights, then once you have weathered the emergency, you owe them the appropriate restitution.

FREEPORT -- The awards presentation for the Edward St. George Games took place this past weekend at Taino Beach in front of the memorial, on a grassy mound shaded by royal palms, where the Late Mr. St. George, the late revered Co-Chairman and part owner of the Grand Bahama Port Authority is buried.

Adding further to the torrent of praise since Mr. St. George's passing on December 20, 2004, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Hon. Neville Wisdom, at the awards ceremony, thanked the Grand Bahama Sports Council officials for honouring Mr. St. George by naming the Grand Bahama Games in his memory.

"I just want to say to the people of Grand Bahama," declared Minister Wisdom, "that if indeed you respect this giant of a man the way you say that you do, if you love him in the way that you say you do and if you honour him in the way that you say that you do, then you might want to emulate some of those sterling characteristics that he stood for, the most important of which were humility and kindness."

The Edward St. George Games, which featured constituency competition in most sporting disciplines, concluded a week earlier with the High Rock Raccoons taking the overall championship. In 2nd place was the Marco City Bulldogs; in 3rd was the Eight Mile Rock Blue Jays; in 4th, the Pine Ridge Cutters; 5th, the Lucaya Braves and 6th, the West End. [...]

Mr. St. George personified humility and demonstrated kindness, Mr. Wisdom said.

"And so I say to you here, the best testimony, the best way you can demonstrate to someone that you mean what you say, is in a very practical and pragmatic way.

"Edward St. George deserves commendation and I am certain that his lovely wife would agree with me that is how to show it: just by being humble; by being kind to each other; and by being excellent in the things that you do.

Mr. Wisdom added: "We have a wonderful country, and I've been bragging from Helsinki 'til now, that, "We beat the world! We beat the world!'; we beat China; we beat Great Britain; we beat Canada; we beat Australia ... we beat the world, man. And that's us.

"When Tonique Williams-Darling won her award I gave her a bookmark that my wife had prepared. And embossed on this bookmark was a statement that came from a portion of a speech given by the late Sir Lynden Pindling.

"That particular statement – in 1972 --spoke about, 'What is a Bahamian?' And he went on to describe this wonderful character with the indomitable spirit that he called a Bahamian. And by his definition that man (Edward St. George) was truly a Bahamian. He met all of the requirements, outside of birth, to be Bahamian.

"He demonstrated the love of a Bahamian; he demonstrated the compassion; he demonstrated the strength, and he demonstrated certainly a feeling of love towards the Bahamian people.

"So, by Sir Lynden's definition," Minister Wisdom ended, "Edward St. George was a real, real, true, true Bahamian.

"Therefore, I salute you and I thank you for agreeing to have this event named in his honour." [Bahamas Information Services]    

Grand Bahama premiered another international sporting event this past weekend with the advent of the Family Fitness Weekend Triathlon, a part of the Coca-Cola Triathlon Series organized by Exclusive Sports Marketing.

Don Cornish, District Manager Special Markets with the Ministry of Tourism, said that the Ministry has partnered with ESM to promote an annual triathlon in The Bahamas.

"We wanted to get into a market where there was a producer available who already had an audience participating in a series, and who would find it easy to come into The Bahamas to gain points.

"Because Grand Bahama was a logical location, as in proximity, they would find it attractive enough to come here on an annual basis.

This inaugural event came of OK considering that we had some challenges. Over 100 person signed up but because of the hurricane some cancelled.

According to Cornish, the goal in the sports department of the Ministry of Tourism is to produce anchor events around which they can build a lot or packaging and promotions to get spectatorship to the islands of The Bahamas that are attached to those sporting events every year.

"So we know that on the U.S. Labour Day each year we will have on Grand Bahama a triathlon event, or beach volleyball or golf or tennis or basketball, something that will provide us the opportunity for promotions," said Cornish.

Winners in this inaugural event were Robert Skaggs from Tampa, Florida in the Male Elite Division, (56:42.159), and in the Ladies Elite Division Lottie Branigan, Vero Beach, Florida, (59:9.573).

Skaggs said that every time there is a race in The Bahamas he tries to make it, pointing out that it’s a great place for a race, the water is nice and the venue fantastic. Branigan noted that she has been here several times, and "If there is a triathlon here it is worth coming over for; it makes it fun to get some vacation in along with the families that also came over," she said.

Steve Tebon from Boca Raton, Florida, organizer of the event said that for an inaugural event it was phenomenal.

"On a scale of 1-10 it was a 7.5-8. The Ministry of Tourism staff came together and really did more that we expected. The Police were on the money and the conditions were great. We want to tell these athletes a story through our Sun-sports 10m home television show. With all of the athletes who came here we’re telling a story, building a book, and with partnership help, we can do a lot better, said Tee Bron.

The event involved a ½ mile swim, an 11-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run, all a part of a series held in the southeastern United States.

Cornish said that down the road, October 21-24, Grand Bahama would be hosting a major beach volleyball series featuring some 150 teams.

Also down the road another new brand of triathlon that raises the bar at two different levels of competition is set for Grand Bahama in November.

Genesis Adventures, the premier endurance sports promotion company in the Northeast, has added a half-EnduraSport triathlon to its first-ever EnduraSport event set for November 19 on Grand Bahama Island.

Terrance Roberts of the Ministry of Tourism, Grand Bahama, said triathletes now have the option of entering a 75-mile Half-EnduraSport or the full, 150-mile EnduraSport Triathlon announced recently by Brian Duncanson, President of Genesis Adventures. Both races stretch the limits of the sport; the 150-mile EnduraSport is longer than the traditional, 140.6-mile Iron-man triathlon.

The Half EnduraSport consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 60.7-mile bike race and a 13.1-mile run; while the full EnduraSport combines a 2.8-mile swim, a 121 mile bike race and a 26.2-mile run. With these increased distances, Duncanson hopes EnduraSport will become a household name in the triathlete community.

The main event site will be at the Viva Wyndham Resort at Fortuna Beach on Grand Bahama Island, just outside Freeport. The beach offers a spectacular swim location with crystal clear water. The island has many paved roads with little or no traffic for the bike course and very few hills, making it ideal for the distances –– flat and fast. The course will be looped through scenic areas, allowing spectators to cheer for competitors multiple times.

"Grand Bahama is an ideal location for this type of event," Duncanson noted. "We want to have an event focused on the athletes plus a great destination. It’s beautiful, easy to reach from the U.S. and will make a great finale to the triathlon season."

Registration will take place Friday, November 18, along with a pre-race meeting and dinner. The race begins on Saturday at 7 a.m. at the Viva Wyndham Resort at Fortuna Beach. On Sunday, November 20 at 2 p.m., athletes can celebrate at the awards banquet and post-race party at the resort.

Also in November, the Junkanoo Jam Basketball Jamboree returns featuring ranked ladies college teams from Division I of the NCAA Division, and the first National Workers Cooperative Credit Union Golf Classic featuring teams from the US and the Caribbean. [Source: Bahamas Information Services]