BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AT first glance many would think that 22-year-old Brijesh Lawrence is an American Football player or even a weight lifter and not the exceptional track athlete he has turned out to be.
He grew up in a home in an alley near College Street and said that his second home on Market Street which is now demolished was the last place he lived before leaving St. Kitts.
He left with his family when he was 8-years old for Omaha, Nebraska and fondly remembers burning up the field and placing first whenever Beach Allen Primary School, the school he attended before he left, had Sports.
His life has been wavering back and forth, sometimes taking a break from track and field, gaining weight, and playing American Football for his high school before he realized that Track and Field was his calling.
He is now in his final year of college, pursuing Business Administration at Doane University in Nebraska.
He was encouraged by his former high school coach to get back into track and field and decided to give it one last try.
However, he had to lose weight and his coach had him training religiously to enable him to lose 18 lbs in three weeks.
“In 2010, in the first Meet I ran, I ran the fastest time, and then I ran the fastest 55 meter time in the whole nation and that was after taking 2 1/2 years off. So then I thought I can do something in track and that really encouraged me,” he said.
In 2010 the St. Kitts and Nevis Amateur Athletics Association noticed the times he was running and contacted him to try out for the nationals.
He made the team.
“I got second to Antoine Adams in the 100m and third to him again in the 200m,” he said.
A memory that would be etched in the minds of Kittitians and Nevisians, was last year’s World Championship in Daegu when the St. Kitts-Nevis relay team placed third and on camera Lawrence who anchored the team, proudly held the flag high.
“That was mind-boggling and such an amazing experience! We went into the meet not even in the top 16 and went into the finals ranking eighth.
“Kim had been to so many World Championships, so he was our mentor and was basically telling us anything can happen. So we went out there and did our best and shocked the world. It was a good experience,” he said.
Over the weekend June 2-3, the National Invitational & Club Championships was held and Brijesh placed fourth in the 100m.
“I came down with an injured hamstring I got from training which had me down for some weeks, so I was not 100%, but I was still able to make the team and I would like to get to the finals this summer for the Olympics for the 4X100m and get a medal,” he said.
Getting a contract and running for paid meets and being on the professional circuit is one of his short term goals.
“Hopefully I’ll get fast enough to be competitive for an Olympic gold medal at the next Olympics,” he said.
Apart from track and field, Lawrence enjoys a good party, bowling, and even fishing.
He is single but says that a beautiful girl with a great personality will catch his attention but she would have to be the one to approach him because at times he can be very shy.
“I feel very proud to represent my country at Meets. Here, at times I feel like a tourist as I don’t know the name of every single street but it’s always great to be home,” he said.
