Colin “Potato” Forde and Lydia Bishop are now the toast of the Pine.
That’s because Forde and Bishop were named the Most Outstanding Sportspersons Of The Year, when the Pinelands Sports Academy held its 2012 sports awards ceremony at the Almond Bay Restaurant on Friday.
Forde, who is head coach of the national football team, beat rising athletic star, Mario Burke, cyclist Javed Mounter, brother and FIFA referee Mark “Bob” Forde and cricketers, Damien Davis and Shamarh Brooks among others, to cop the coveted award.
Bishop, who last year resigned from the national netball team after 14 years of service, overcame the likes of Marion Johnson-Hurley, Margaret Cutting and Kerrie Beckles, who was also named Most Outstanding Female Athlete Of The Year.
Despite losing out on the top prize Burke, who has already qualified for this year’s CARIFTA Games, walked away with the Most Outstanding Male Athlete Of The Year award.
Last year’s victor ludorum at the Wilkie Cumberbatch Primary school, Collie Jones, captured the Most Outstanding Junior Of The Year award.
In delivering the feature address, parliamentary representative for St Michael South-East, Hamilton Lashley, revealed that despite being viewed as one of the less favourable communities on the island, the Pine had produced some of the island’s best sportsmen and women.
He referred to former West Indies bastman, Carlisle Best, Ivan “Speed” Forde, whom he called one of the best midfielders Barbados has ever seen, and netball greats Margaret Cutting and Lydia Bishop.
“This proves that, despite the fact that persons can always be heard saying that nothing good comes from the Pine, that nothing is farther from the truth,” Lashley said.
“We have produced some of the best athletes this country has ever seen, and we will continue to do so, especially with persons such as Mario Burke, Shamar Brooks and Kerrie Beckles, all of whom are destined for greatness.”
