(BRIDGETOWN, Barbados) 23 May 2014 – A pair of training shoes handcrafted by Puma for the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, will go on sale at a Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Education Foundation auction in New York City on Friday 6 June. They are the spikes that Bolt used in his training for the 2013 World Championship Games in Moscow.
With a bounce from these specially made preparation spikes, Bolt won gold in the 100m and the 200m, as well as the 4 x 100 relay, at the Moscow meet. He emerged from the games as the most successful athlete ever in the history of the World Championships. The spikes are autographed by Bolt, with one of his two aliases, ‘UGO’, written on them. This special creation is not available in stores, and the blue marks on the front and sides of the spikes are from the dye from the training track in his starting block at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. The teeth and laces were personally inserted by Bolt and they have been worn by only him.
“Usain Bolt is a global legend from the Caribbean who continues to make history and to make us proud. We are thrilled to have his training spikes from the 2013 World Championship Games as a part of the CTO’s Caribbean Week auction”, said Sylma Brown, the director of CTO USA Inc., the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s North American office based in New York.
The auction will be a highlight of Rum & Rhythm, a signature event hosted by the CTO during Caribbean Week New York (#CWNY14). The event will take place at the Tribeca 360 in Lower Manhattan starting at 6:30 PM on Friday 6 June.
The starting bid is set for US$18,000 and the auction is a collaboration among the CTO; Dave Rodney, marketing executive at Images Media; and the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica (Kingston Chapter). The spikes were handed over last year to Norma Brown Bell, former president of the Lay Magistrates Association. Proceeds from the sale will be used for the benefit of charities in Jamaica and the CTO Foundation, the non-profit foundation established by the CTO to help Caribbean nationals pursue higher education in tourism related subjects, by providing scholarships and grants.
Caribbean Week New York, where business and culture inspire travel, runs from 1-7 June. For information on tickets to Rum & Rhythm , as well as all Caribbean Week New York events and how to participate, visit www.CaribbeanWeek.com.
Caribbean Week is supported by Academy Engraving, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME), AMResorts Caribbean, the Atrebor Group, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bloomingdales, Blue Sky Luxury, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Caribbean Airlines, Cayman Islands, Cititech Solutions, CTO Allied Members, Curacao, Dominica, David Williams Funeral Service, El Dorado, Empire State Building, Grace Foods, Grenada, Guadeloupe Islands, Haiti, Haven’s Kitchen, Health City Cayman Islands, Hilton San Juan Collection, Jamaica , Laura Davidson PR, Martinique, Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board, Necker Island, Nevis, Nick Troubetzkoy’s Anse Chastanet Resort and Jade Mountain, Sandals Resorts International, the Sandals Foundation, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Martin, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Sugar Beach, Travel+Leisure, Trinidad & Tobago, the US Virgin Islands, Whole Foods Market Culinary Center and Williams-Sonoma.
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