Thu | Sep 11, 2025

Police ‘force’ powers Ja’s dragon boat bronze

Published:Monday | September 8, 2025 | 12:10 AM
Corporal Oshane Wilson (front) and Constable Rushaine Tyrell (first left, back row) join fellow Jamaican team members showing off bronze medals won in the 200-metre Mixed Major Final at the fourth Bahamas International Chinese Dragon Boat Festival in Nass
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Corporal Oshane Wilson (front) and Constable Rushaine Tyrell (first left, back row) join fellow Jamaican team members showing off bronze medals won in the 200-metre Mixed Major Final at the fourth Bahamas International Chinese Dragon Boat Festival in Nassau on Sunday, August 31. From second left (back row): Sharic Bowen, Delano Francis, Ackeem Lawrence, Akino Lindsay, Richard Stone, Leighton Scott, Raúl S. Fernández-Calienes, Arthur Barrows and Denise Romario-Williams. Kneeling (front row) are Gregory Forsyth, Arthur Barrows, Gabrielle Russell, Danielle Russell and Chue-Ping Wong Russell.

CORPORAL Oshane Wilson and Constable Rushaine Tyrell, bronze medal winners on Jamaica’s 200-metre mixed team at the August 30-31 Bahamas International Dragon Boat Festival at Goodman’s Bay, Nassau, returned home planning for next year’s staging, promising gold medals in nine months’ time.

Shifting from the hurricane season, which brought its share of race stoppages because of lightning and rough waters at the weekend, the organisers have moved the 2026 festival to May 2-3, when clearer skies and calmer seas are expected at that time of year.

Wilson and Tyrell, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s St Catherine South Division’s Special Operations Unit, have welcomed the change, pointing out that Jamaica’s achievement as dragon boat newbies, a bronze in Major Final Mixed and fastest second-round qualifier to Major Final Open 200 metres, was not only historic but monumental.

“The experience was great,” said Tyrell, 32, a former footballer at the St Catherine parish level and 10-year career policeman.

“The fact that we didn’t get much training and won a Major Final Mixed bronze was a big accomplishment. We started training in June. I actually like the concept of dragon boat racing, the skill and teamwork involved,” Tyrell added.

A former district constable who was recently transferred to the constabulary’s regulars, Tyrell believes consistent training will enable Jamaica to defeat two-time defending champions, home team Baha Mar Buoys and Gulls.

Jamaica placed second to Buoys and Gulls in the first round of the 200-metre open before clocking the fastest second round, 1:03.95, ahead of the Bahamian champions’ 1:04.82.

Wilson, a powerlifter dubbed ‘Hulk’ for his towering physique, agreed with Tyrell that the Jamaican team put together by captain Jason McKay in June overachieved in The Bahamas.

“Being a part of the mixed team, which won bronze, I am extremely proud of the females. I don’t believe a better team could have been chosen. For me, it was very good. In the open division, being newcomers, underdogs and underestimated by the other teams from various countries, being able to make the time to reach the Major Final, Division A, that was a tremendous feeling and feat.”

Wilson, a 36-year-old corporal, described the Bahamas festival as “a learning experience”, thanking sponsor McKay Security for believing in the team.

“We have learnt and will return better,” he vowed, looking forward to May 2026. “The experience was one in a million. I have never experienced anything of that magnitude. It was electrifying.”

Ainsley Walters