The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

For the second time in its history, there will be no CARIFTA Games held during the Easter holiday weekend as the event has been postponed by North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) until August due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But not to worry local track and field fans, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) will be mimicking the top regional junior track and field meet by hosting their Easter Track and Field Classic this weekend.

In similar fashion to the games where athletes would have had to qualify to compete, or been invited to join the team, BAAA president Drumeco Archer said they have devised a plan that will provide that same type of atmosphere.

The meet will begin on Saturday at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium with both a morning and evening session, starting at 9am and 4pm respectively.

There will also be an evening session on Sunday and Monday at 2pm only.

“With the Easter Classic, in the absence of the CARIFTA Games taking place around the same time, we thought it would be a good opportunity for our athletes to get a dry run and to go through the rounds of their respective events,” Archer said. “It is an invitation only meet, so we hope that it will be a much more competitive meet because the entries will be by a ranking system.”

In mimicking what the CARIFTA Games would look like, Archer said they hope to showcase those athletes who have already qualified for the Games and those who are close to attaining the standard.

“We want to stack the best athletes together and I think that will rise the level of competition,” Archer revealed.

“Only the best who qualify will be allowed to compete at this event.

“In all of the events, we will have a top 32 ranking system and we’re going to introduce a universality principal by allowing 10 family island athletes who wish to compete in those events, who are not ranked, to be able to compete.”

Hopefully, as a result of the meet, there will be more qualifiers for CARIFTA as was the case during the Blue Marlins Track Series on Saturday when Wanya McCoy did the standard in the under-20 boys’ 200m and Amari Pratt made the B cut in the under-17 girls’ 100m.

Based on the meets held so far this year, the BAAA has already seen more than a dozen athletes make the standards, despite the fact that there are less meets due to COVID-19.

The majority of the athletes surpassed the standards in field events, but with head-to-head competition on the track this weekend, Archer anticipates that the numbers will increase.

The CARIFTA Games, normally held during the Easter holiday weekend, have been pushed back to August 13-15 on the recommendation of NACAC to the host Bermuda Amateur Athletic Association.

Last year, NACAC and Bermuda agreed to postpone the games due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It was rescheduled for this Easter, but a decision was made to push it back to July.

Upon further review and the increased spread of the virus around the region, NACAC made the recommendation to Bermuda to push it back again until August.