I love my Sag Harbor Family and the Support I get

 Thank you Sag Harbor Express for your continued support. I love the support that I have received during my entire High School experience with academics, acting and sports. My winter season has not ended yet, I have two more meets in March and after that I can focus on my Spring Season, I know that I am a stronger runner and I am looking forward to running with the team, it really is lonely when you are not on a team. There is nothing like Team Spirit, Spring Track is actually the BEST!
 http://sagharborexpress.com/leggard-sprints-finals-colgate-games/

Allura Leggard warms up before competing in the 55 Meter Dash at the 43rd Annual Colgate Women’s Games at the Armory Track in New York City on Saturday. Michael Heller photo (Sag Harbor Express)

Allura Leggard during opening ceremonies at the 43rd Annual Colgate Women’s Games at the Armory in New York City. 
Photo credit: Micheal Heller, Sag Harbor Express

One Billion Rising for the Retreat

Eve Bishop & Me

I was very excited to be part of "One Billion Rising" a celebration of song, performance and spoken word to raise awareness for Domestic Violence. One Billion Rising is a global movement, founded by Eve Ensler, to end rape and sexual violence against women. It was started in 2012 as part of the V-Day movement. The "billion" refers to the UN statistic that one in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime, or about one billion. 

Helen Atkinson-Barnes, Education Program Manager for the Teen Leadership Project was the representative for the Retreat.  The Feminist Club from Pierson made "hats" to raise money for the Retreat.

My Friend Eve Bishop made the cover of the program, Kate Mueth and the Neo-Political Cowgirls organized the event at  Guild Hall in East Hampton on Sunday, February 12th, at 2pm. It was Free and open to the public! 

Dad, me, mom, Mrs AB-Barnes

Photo Credit: Tom Kochie

Here is the Poem I wrote and performed at Guild Hall.

Our Time

This is our time, this is our place

I will not stand for this outbreak

I love my body and I love myself

I will let no one stand between me and my health

I will do what I need to do when it needs to be done

I stand with not one but everyone

I bloom like a flower and bring happiness

But when it is time to bring the power I get serious

I am a nasty women who you can’t avoid

I will say my peace because I’m not a toy

When you mess with one you mess with all

I believe "pussy fights back" is the phrase we call

We are beautiful but not only that

We have the strength and power to fight back

We will not use violence or mean slurs

How would we be better than them

We stand arm to arm, sister to sister, and we show them off

We have the right, we have justice, we have freedom

We are beautiful creatures who stand tall

We don’t want justice for one but for all

'When they go low we go high'

This slogan speaks this truth, it has no lie

It’s not for the democrats, republicans, liberals, or conservatives on this Earth

But for the women, men, LGBQAI, those who are genderless brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, black, white, asian, latino, latina, every individual with self-worth

We will take a stand and no one will stop us with that

When they take it all we fight back

Don’t mess with us we have more than you think

We are the Women of the world and we will speak up for what we believe

-Allura Leggard

Lets start the count down...only 4 more months of HS to go!

Woo Hoo finished the 2nd quarter strong. This was one of the hardest semesters in High School, mostly because I have been traveling 2-3 times per week into New York City for Track meets and track Practices. I was not getting home until 11pm and staying up until 2am on some nights to finish homework and study for test. I am very proud of myself because I worked very hard. I can't wait to see my class ranking and my weighted GPA.

43rd Colgate Women's Games - FINALIST

On Saturday, January 28th the 43rd Colgate Women's Games had their semi-finals. I entered the semi-finals for the 55 dash in 5th place, I trained for 2 solid weeks, and I was pumped and ready for this race. Only the top 12 in each event makes it to the semi-finals and only the top 6 make it to the Finals. Choosing to run independent for the winter season of my senior year was a very difficult decision because there are very few meets in which an independent HS sprinter is allowed to compete. This is my 1st time competing at Colgate Women's games and it has been a wonderful experience, I have met some amazing girls and given an opportunity to step up my game to compete with this pool of talented sprinters. 

I am a FINALIST at the 43rd Colgate Women's Games and I am so proud to be the company of hundreds of national champions and these six Phyllis Francis, Natasha Hastings, Deajah Stevens, Delilah Muhammed, Nia Ali, and Ajee Wilson who competed at the Rio Games in 2016 and Colgate Games Director, Cheryl Toussaint who is a Silver Medalist from the 1972 Olympic Games. 

Colgate Women's games has been around for 43 years and it is well respected in the track world, girls from age 7-adult participate and these are some of the fastest runners on the East Coast. The Colgate Games are about the importance of continuing education and gaining self-esteem in an atmosphere of friendly competition.

I had a challenging race on Saturday, but my accumulation of points from competing for the previous 4 weeks qualified me to compete in the Finals.  I wear this tracksuit with pride because it took hard work to earn the right to wear it, so I wear it with pride. 

I am extremely excited about this accomplishment, it will be a day I will NEVER forget, because it was one of my worst days but also one of my best days. It will define me as a runner moving forward I am sure. 

FINALS: February 18th at the Armory in Manhattan on 169th Street.