Beauty queens hit the road ahead of pageant

All ten Miss Cayman Islands 2015 contestants with pageant chair Derri Lee

(CNS): The ten young women vying for the title of Miss Cayman Islands were on the road at the weekend drumming up support for their bid at the national beauty pageant title. The contest was re-introduced this year after a three-year break due to underfunding issues. With just three weeks to go before the competition, the contestants took part in an island-wide motorcade from the Turtle Farm in West Bay to Rum Point in North Side on Saturday.

The pageant is scheduled to take place at the Lions Centre on 31 January, when the current Miss Cayman, Lindsay Japal, will hand over her crown. Miss Cayman Committee Chairperson Derri A Lee said the traditional motorcade was a fun way for the contestants to see Grand Cayman and for the island to see them. Contestants visited Cayman Brac late last year.

With the contest around the corner, the beauty queens are now prepping round the clock for the show, doing interview and catwalk training as well as their exercise regime. They will make their final public appearance at Heroes’ Day on Monday 26 of January but the contestants will be hoping to keep up their public profile in order to get the People’s Choice Award.

Readers can vote for their favourites on the Miss Cayman Islands website.

Whoever wins the title could go on to compete at the Miss World pageant in December 2015, which is scheduled to take place in Russia, where, according to international reports, for the first year since the competition was founded there will be no swimsuit rounds.

Since the 2015 Miss Universe contest is to be held in Miami on Sunday 25 January, just a few days before the new Miss Cayman Islands is crowned, the new title holder will not be able to take part but officials have said they will be seeking to re-register Cayman for the next Miss Universe pageant. The current Miss Cayman Islands, Lindsey Japal, competed in Miss Universe 2012.

The first Miss Cayman Islands pageant was held in 1977 and was won by Patricia Patiño. Since then another 30 women have represented the country as Miss Cayman Islands and competed in both the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants. Local attorney Theresa Lewis (now Lewis Pitcairn) was Cayman’s most successful contestant ever, having placed in the top 15 of the 1982 Miss World contest and taking the Miss Congeniality crown at the Miss Universe pageant in the same year.

For information about the competition and the contest visit the Miss Cayman Islands website or call 926 7724 for tickets.