Help Sierra Leone's Women's Relay Team Win Their Toughest Race

In this undated photograph, athletes gather for training at the Siaka Stevens Stadium in Freetown, Sierra Leone


It’s three days to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but the Sierra Leonean athletes scheduled to take part in the annual track and field competition April 24th – 27th April are still stuck in Freetown.


With little financial support from the government or the national Olympic Committee, it’s been one hurdle after another.

Michaela Kargbo, Rebecca Ansumana, and Agnes Mansaray finally got a visa from the Embassy of the United States in Freetown last week, but they still have to raise enough money to fly out from Lungi. The team hopes to be led by former national sprinter James Davies (Turbo Ben), and will be joined by Matu Davies, a rising star who lives and trains in Nairobi, Kenya.


On the line from Freetown, Dauda Sundufu-Sowa, the secretary general of the Sierra Leone Amateur Athletics Association, told African Sports Monthly’s Leslie Koroma that this is an opportunity for Sierra Leoneans to help.

International meets are great for young athletes, Sundufu-Sowa explained.  

“Help get them to America to run in the Penn Relays and train together in a camp that will allow them to compete in the IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, a month after Penn.”

The team also hopes to take part in the Commonwealth Games in Scotland this July, and gain the exposure they need as they look forward to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil.

“In the spirit of Easter, Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad willing to help this team of young ladies realize their dreams can send an email to this media house at info@africansportsmonthly.com  It will be passed on to the appropriate parties,” Koroma said.

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