Red Carpet Treatment

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While it only took him 13.14 seconds to win the hearts of Barbadians home and abroad, it will take hours today for Barbados to pay tribute to gold medal hurdler Ryan Brathwaite.

Brathwaite returns home this afternoon and will be met by spectacular celebrations the minute he arrives at the Grantley Adam International Airport en route to Kensington Oval via motorcade for an official Government ceremony.

After his expected arrival time at 1:45 p.m., Brathwaite will be ushered into a reception in the VIP Lounge.

An hour later his motorcade rolls off at 2:45 p.m. from the airport to Oistins and along the South Coast, into Bridgetown and onto Kensington Oval for the big ceremony that starts at 4:45 p.m.

The 21-year-old Brathwaite will be showered with gifts from the Government and corporate Barbados. There will also be presentations from Brathwaite's two schools, Lawrence T. Gay and Lester Vaughan.

Prime Minister David Thompson will deliver the feature address, while there will be messages from Senator Sandiford-Garner and Brathwaite's former principals.

Other messages will be from the 13:14 Gold Committee from Hillaby, the Barbados Olympic Association, the Amateur Athletics Association, and the National Sports Council.

Up to yesterday evening, special events co-ordinator in the Prime Minister's Office, Cranston Browne, was conducting a final "walk-through" with security officials while the stage, lighting and the protective cover for the Kensington playing field had all been installed completely.

Weather permitting, hundreds are expected to line the South Coast at key points such as Oistins, Rendezvous, Hastings, the Garrison, Bay Street, Bridgetown, Princess Alice Highway and Fontabelle.

The weather forecast for today is: partly cloudy to occasionally cloudy with scattered showers.

Celebrations are also expected to go long into the night in Brathwaite's hometown Hillaby, St Andrew, where a big screen will replay his 110-metre hurdle victory in Berlin, Germany, last month and a mural will also be unveiled on a wall at the corner of Church Gap, where Brathwaite lives.

On Sunday, an interdenominational thanksgiving service will be held in his honour at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre from 3 p.m. and buses will leave Turners Hall, Hillaby, Farmers and Whitehall promptly at 1:45 p.m. to transport people who don't have vehicles, and wish to attend the service.

Source: www.nationnews.com

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