The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

CLOSE to 800 athletes, including elite athletes Andretti Bain, Adrian Griffith, Wesley Neymour, Ryan Ingraham and Jamal Wilson, competed in the Ambassadors Track Club’s sixth annual Fritz Grant Invitational.

The one-day meet on Saturday in the original Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium was held in honour of Grant, the head coach of the Ambassadors Track Club. The meet was sponsored by Asa H Pritchard through its produce Florida’s Natural.

Complete results of the meet, which had to be suspended because of insufficient lights to contest the men’s 5,000 metres and the 4 x 400 metre relays, were unavailable.

But one of the highlights saw Bain making his comeback, in just about a year of inactivity because of an injury, to win the men’s 400 metres.

“Last year, I was running sparingly because of the injuries,” Bain said. “It feels good. I’ve been having some slight problems with my plantar fasciitis. Truth be told, I wasn’t able to train this past week, but Mr Grant and the Ambassadors have meant so much to me, so I made the effort to come out here and just try to get around the track in support of him.”

Bain, a former hurdler turned quarter-miler who has ran on the men’s 4 x 400 relay team before, said once he can get in some quality workouts and not have the injury inflamed again, he should be ready for the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations National Championships

in Grand Bahama in June.

Another quarter-miler, Wesley Neymour, moved down to the 200 to get in some speed work. He won his heat in a sprint to the finish line with just four days rest after he competed at the Cayman Invitational in the Cayman Islands.

“It felt alright, they were holding us so long (to compete), so I was a little flat, but I felt alright,” Neymour said. “In the Cayman Islands, they held us long too, so I just had to go out there and run. Hopefully when I compete again, I will run much faster.”

The meet said the return of Carmiesha Cox to the track after she took a break for the BTC CARFITA Games in April. Cox won her heat of the women’s 200, but it’s not certain exactly where she placed in the overall timed trials.

“It was okay. It wasn’t as strong as I expected it to be. I was just happy to be back on the track. I was pleased with what I did,” said Cox, who along with Devynne Charlton are heading to Purdue University in August. “I was a little out of shape, but I’m getting back to where I used to be.”

Also getting back in shape as he competed in the meet was Griffith, who won the men’s 100. He ran into a negative head wind as he took the tape.

Griffith is hoping that he can join the rest of the elite athletes when they head to the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, in August.

Two athletes who are also trying to make the team are Ingraham and Wilson, who once again challenged each other in the men’s high jump.

While Ingraham came close to the qualifying mark for the victory, Wilson was right on his trail for second place.

Grant was left blushing at the end of the meet.

“This meet was very successful. This was one of the biggest meets that we’ve had in a long time,” Grant said. “I think we had close to 900 participants. We also had one gentleman from Canada, who competed in the men’s 100 against Adrian Griffith, who is coming off a knee injury.

“Looking at the performances of the athletes, especially the senior ones, I think the upcoming Nationals in Grand Bahama is going to be very competitive. We also had the young athletes from the primary schools to the high schools. The primary schools are getting ready for their Nationals at the end of the month, so a lot of the coaches were using this meet to get them ready.”

Grant said once again, he was pleased with Asa H Pritchard and Florida’s Natural, who stepped in and continued to sponsor the meet. He said their support went a long way to make the meet the success it was.

Jeff Saunders, the brand manager for Florida’s Natural at Asa H Pritchard, said he was thrilled with the participants and he certainly felt that they got value for every dollar they spent in their sponsorship.

“When you have 800 kids and adults coming out to support them in a meet like this, we have to be pleased,” Saunders said. “We have done a number of things to increase our sponsorship this year and I have to say I was pleased with the response we got.”

With the Ambassadors Track Club celebrating its 50th anniversary, Saunders said they intend to throw their support again because they have had a great ride over the past three years they have been on board as a sponsor.

The meet results were not available up to press time Sunday night.