Ferguson-McKenzie tops in Bahamas again
NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) — World-rated sprinter Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie has won the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Athlete of the Year award for the third year in a row.
Ferguson-McKenzie, 33, secured the honour on the strength of her double medal effort at the IAAF World Championship in August.
She topped a group of other world-class athletes — Leevan Sands, Chandra Sturrup, and Chris Brown — for the Charley Major Award at the BAAA Awards function Sunday at the Wyndham Crystal Palace Resort and Casino.
A 200-metre bronze medallist and sprint relay silver medallist at the Berlin World Championship in August, Ferguson-McKenzie also emerged easily as BAAA Female Athlete of the Year.
Sands, who placed fourth in the triple jump in Berlin, was named Male Athlete of the Year.
Ferguson-McKenzie, who won Olympic 200-metre bronze in Athens, had a commendable year in which she also placed sixth in the 100-metre final in Berlin and her season’s best times of 22.23 (200m) and 10.97 (100m), placed her second and sixth respectively on the world’s performance lists for 2009.
Sands, a bronze medallist at the Beijing Olympics last year, placed second at the World Athletics Finals and was ranked 10th in the world with his season’s best 17.32 metres.
Warren Fraser and Rashan Brown headed the junior awards.
Fraser, the CARIFTA Games 100-metre Under-20 silver medallist behind Barbadian Shekiem Greaves, took the Basil Seymour junior male award and Brown, the CARIFTA 400-metre U-17 silver and 200m bronze medal winner, collected the Anita Doherty honour as the No 1 junior female.
CARIFTA — high jump champion and long jump silver medallist Raymond Higgs captured the Keith Parker award as the most outstanding junior field athlete.