Drake University Returns For Fifth Year To Sunshine Insurance Marathon Bahamas

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11/09/2016 01:07:09
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Drake University Returns For Fifth Year To Sunshine Insurance Marathon Bahamas
Students To Also Learn Leadership at Sea While In The Country

For the fifth year in a row, a group of Drake University students will travel to The Bahamas in January to take part in the Sunshine Insurance Race Weekend (SIRW).
Race Weekend, which includes the Susan G. Komen Bahamas Race for the Cure® 5K and Marathon Bahamas, will take place on January 14-15, 2017.

Drake University’s participation in the event has become tradition as the hugely popular event remains a staple on the sports tourism calendar.

Every student participates in the 5K and approximately half of the students participate in the marathon. The other half of the students serves as volunteers to staff water stations.

“We are delighted to again take part in Race Weekend by participating in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure and the Marathon Bahamas,” said Tom Westbrook, professor of leadership studies and director of the leadership concentration at Drake University.

“It is a wonderful way for our students to learn of the history and culture of this wonderful island nation. It is one of the highlights of our time in Nassau.”

Katherine North, a senior health sciences major, who will be on the trip, said, “It was an amazing opportunity to get to encourage the students from our class and other marathon participants during the entire race.”

While here, the students will also take part in a leadership course on the high seas.

Leadership at Sea is a blend of classroom and experiential learning focusing on leadership development, team building, and seamanship.

Twenty students and two faculty members will participate in the course highlighted by a week’s excursion aboard the Liberty Clipper—a U.S. Coast Guard licensed gaff-rigged, square-masted sailboat that becomes their classroom as they take command of the ship on the Caribbean Sea.

During the trip, scheduled for January 9-21, students will learn from American Embassy and Bahamian government officials, meet with faculty and students at the newly renamed University of The Bahamas, complete a historical tour of Nassau, and tour a major cruise liner.

The course will teach students to apply leadership in a new environment, to work in teams, to communicate and manage conflicts, and to sail.

North said she loved getting to truly explore and learn about The Bahamas during the class. She said the leadership skills she learned from Bahamian officials and from the trip in general are skills she will use the rest of her life.

She noted that she is extremely excited for the group of students who get the same opportunity this January.

Westbrook and Stephanie Sledge, Drake University’s assistant athletics director, will lead this year’s trip.

Marathon Bahamas is sponsored by Sunshine Insurance, the Ministry of Tourism, Atlantis, Focol, BTC, Arawak Homes, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Cleveland Clinic, Dasani (CBC Bahamas), NAD, Royal Star Assurance, Scotiabank, Subway, Bahamas Power and Light, Bahamas Waste, Global Pacific Food Group/Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic, Graham Thompson, Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture, Pharmachem Technologies, Roman Meal, Royal Bank of Canada, SignMan, TheBahamasWeekly, Tropical Shipping, Vitamalt among many others.

To register for the 8th annual Marathon Bahamas event, visit www.marathonbahamas.com. To register for the 7th Susan G. Komen Bahamas event, visit www.komenbahamas.org.