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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesHa'Penny Prettified in Time for Coastweeks Relay

Ha'Penny Prettified in Time for Coastweeks Relay

Lewellyn Taylor running along the Ha'Penny shoreline.Everything was perfect at pretty crescent-shaped Ha’Penny Beach Saturday morning as the Virgin Islands Pace Runners held its annual Coastweeks two-mile relay race up and down the sands.

Ha’Penny has taken some beatings in recent years. In the aftermath of storms that brushed St. Croix in 2009 and 2010, so much sand was gone it didn’t look like the beach would come back.

Then there was the recent influx of sargassum weed hardly leaving any room to walk some mornings. On top of that there was the litter. Ha’Penny’s isolation attracts partiers and some of them don’t know or care about carrying litter out with you. V.I. Waste Management Authority helped for a while keeping blue barrels at the beginning of the beach but even those barrels disappeared last year.

But this weekend, the sand was back, the sargassum mostly gone, and more importantly the trash was picked up last weekend during Coastweeks and a new dumpster is sitting near the parking area.

The relay, with no entry fee, was part of the International Coastal Cleanup week organized by the Ocean Conservancy. Volunteers and participants in the beach relay annually pick up debris and trash on the beach, record what they pick up and submit the data for analysis. It is estimated that more than 1,600 volunteers hauled almost nine tons of garbage off the territory’s beaches during this year’s cleanup.

The runners taking part in the relay on Saturday morning were mostly student athletes preparing for the first meet of the cross-country season at the University of the Virgin Islands St. Croix Campus on Wednesday.

Valence Modeste Sr., a fit-looking V.I. National Guard Army soldier, said he enjoys the family time and health aspect of running with his 10-year-old son. He added it was his first race and it was challenging running on the sand.

This years race attracted seven teams with youngsters dominating.

The St. Croix Track Club/Educational Complex High School team of Malcolm Martin and Malique Smith took first place with a time of 26:23; John Shean and Lewellyn Taylor of St. Croix Central High School finished second in 29:30; Alicia Churaman and Randall Neilsen of Present and Accounted was third in 30:05; Mikeala Smith and Valence Modeste of St. Croix Track Club was a very close fourth in 30:05.

Organizer Wallace Williams said that the Pace Runners have had the Coastweeks relay race for more than 25 years.

"Many of us recall how badly trashed the beach and surrounding area was when we held the first race here years ago," said Williams. "When Barbara Taylor, a former top local runner and triathlete, introduced the Ocean Conservancy project, we took to it. The first time we had two truckloads of trash. Thanks to improved public response to help clean up our beaches and a greater sense of respect for our beautiful environment, today there was relatively minimal trash.”

The race is done in cooperation with: The UVI’s V.I. Marine Advisory Service, V.I. Waste Management Authority and Ocean Conservancy.

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