If you are driven, but even more, if you are driven toward well-being, even when vacationing, Belmond’s luxe Anguilla outpost, Cap Juluca, has a program you’ll be thankful for this Thanksgiving. For five days at the end of November, Jamaican-born sprinter Veronica Campbell Brown, the eight-time Olympic medalist, will headline the latest in the Greco-Moorish beachfront resort’s series of wellness retreats on the serene scimitar of sand called Maundays Bay on the island’s southeastern coast.
The inspiring Campbell Brown, 43, began winning gold medals in 100- and 200- meter sprints as a teenager, and while attending college in Kansas and Arkansas, first qualified for the Olympic Games, taking home her first silver medal at the 2000 games. She later won gold for Jamaica at the 2004 Athens games, and in 2008 in Beijing, and many more medals representing the Americas at track-and-field world championships around the world. Her personal best times have earned her top-fifteen placement in several all-time track-and-field rankings. She last ran in the Olympics in 2016, taking home a silver medal as a member of Jamaica’s 200-meter relay team.
Cap Juluca’s Driven: By Veronica begins with a sunset sabering ritual and champagne reception on Tuesday, November 25th, and over the next few days will include workouts, a nutrition and recovery workshop, a Friday “Dinner with an Olympian,” where Campbell Brown will share recollections of her remarkable feats of prowess, and will end at a Saturday afternoon session designed to inspire resilience, determination and excellence. Aside from the Friday dinner at the resort’s Chef’s Table, all the events are free for guests.
The first of Cap Juluca’s run of wellness weekends took place two years ago and featured yoga and meditation guru Travis Eliot. Last year, in three separate encounters, guests could benefit from proximity to Olympic medal-winning swimmer Jazz Carlin; Kundalini yoga, meditation and wellness sessions with Banu Alagoz, a renowned holistic therapist and artist; a trip on a catamaran with Ricardo Diniz, whose solo sailing exploits made him a renowned inspirational speaker and coach, and a six-day Sanctum Signature experience of high-intensity workouts incorporating breathwork, mindfulness, movement, strength training and immersive sound.
Of course, you could just drown in the daily delights at Cap Juluca. They include tennis, horseback riding, sails, fishing trips, and scuba and snorkeling; wine-and rum tastings; a just-opened Guerlain spa; breakfast and dinner at either its original Anguillian-Caribbean restaurant Pimms, or its Cip’s by Cipriani restaurant; lunch or dinner at Uchu, a Peruvian restaurant; feet-in-sand lunches at the beachfront Cap Shack; or just a few days on that gorgeous beach. Doing nothing is also, well, doing good, right?