The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A disgruntled parent said yesterday it is a “tragedy” that his son and 39 other members of a junior national track and field team were “left in limbo” for almost two days not knowing if they would make it to a highly anticipated regional track meet.

The parent, whose name has been withheld, told The Tribune yesterday afternoon that the 40-member team set to represent the Bahamas at the 16th Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) Track and Field Championships in Tortola, British Virgin Islands (BVI) all showed up at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) on Wednesday only to find out that they were not booked on their respective flights.

And since then, the parent said the group had been stranded in New Providence. His family, along with some eight team members who travelled from Freeport, Grand Bahama, were stuck at LPIA from 7am until 4pm on Wednesday, with no idea if they would make it to the BVI in time for the championships, which starts today.

He said the group was put up at a local hotel overnight on Wednesday.

The Tribune understands that the travel accommodations were to be handled jointly between the Bahamas Amateur Athletic Association (BAAAs) as well as the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT).

The Tribune spoke with BUT Acting President Zane Lightbourne both in the morning and shortly after 5pm yesterday, who said officials were still working on a way to get the team into Tortola ahead of the today’s athletic event.

“We’re just trying to solve the problem, and there’s movement on it, but we’re just trying to get final word and we’ll deal with whose fault it is after all of this is done,” Mr Lightbourne told The Tribune. He also said officials were soliciting the government for assistance up to yesterday evening.

Nonetheless, the parent told The Tribune that regardless of the outcome, the entire ordeal is “a hard pill to swallow.”

“These children worked hard,” he said. “Some of them are actually young Olympians coming up. They have outstanding records and the competition with the other Caribbean nations would actually take them to a level of advancement mentally and physically for the future.

“And it’s really a disenchantment, a rejection from a national level because they came with such great anticipation.”

The CUT games are a series of events that bring together approximately 700 of the best athletes between the ages of 8-15, along with coaches, from 23 countries in the region, in the spirit of Caribbean unity and friendly competition.