For the fourth year in a row, a group of Drake University students will travel to The Bahamas to take part in the Sunshine Insurance Race Weekend (SIRW). The annual event takes place January 16th-17th, 2016. It kicks off with the Susan G. Komen Bahamas Race for the Cure® 5K and later heads into Marathon Bahamas.

A total of 20 students will be visiting from the university next year. Half of them will participate in the marathon while others serve as volunteers, staffing water stations and coordinating race logistics. All of the students will take part in the Susan G. Komen run/walk.

“We are delighted to again take part in race weekend by participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and Marathon Bahamas,” said Tom Westbrook, professor of leadership studies and director of the leadership concentration at Drake University. “It is a wonderful way for our students to learn of the history and culture of this wonderful island nation. It is one of the highlights of our time in Nassau."

Westbrook and Jennifer Tran-Johnson, Drake University’s assistant dean of student support, will be leading the group. The students will also take part in a leadership course on the high seas during their trip, which is scheduled for January 12th-23rd.

Leadership at Sea is a blend of classroom and experiential learning focusing on leadership development, team building, and seamanship. The 20 students and two faculty members will participate in the course highlighted by a trip aboard the Liberty Clipper — a U.S. Coast Guard licensed gaff-rigged, square-masted sailboat that becomes their classroom as they take command of the ship on the Caribbean Sea.

Students will also learn from officials of the American Embassy and Bahamian government, meet with faculty and students at the College of The Bahamas (COB), complete a historical tour of Nassau, and tour a major cruise liner. The course will teach students to apply leadership in a new environment, work in teams, communicate and manage conflicts, and to sail.

For more information or to register for the seventh annual Marathon Bahamas, interested persons are asked to visit the website www.marathonbahamas.com. To register for the sixth annual Susan G. Komen Bahamas Race for the Cure, interested persons are asked to visit the website www.komenbahamas.org. Organizers are giving away a gift for every 25th person who registers online. Individuals who register by November 30th will be eligible to win the grand prize – dinner for four at Atlantis Paradise Island.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian