The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SOME of the country’s top junior and senior athletes will be in Grand Bahama competing in the Fast Track Athletics’ inaugural Spring Fling Invitational this weekend.

The event will be held at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex.

Meet director Ravanno Ferguson has confirmed that the two-day meet will include a number of athletes from Grand Bahama, New Providence, and Andros when they compete on Friday, starting at 5pm and Saturday from 11am.

“We normally do a Holiday Classic, but we moved up earlier this year as a post-CARIFTA,” said Ferguson, who also serves as the head coach of Fast Track Athletics and first vice president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations.

“We want to support our athletes, not just in Grand Bahama, but the entire Bahamas, by providing them with a good quality track meet.

“It took off very well because we have clubs coming in from New Providence, Andros, and Abaco, so it should be a very interesting one.”

At least 10 athletes from Grand Bahama and seven travelling from throughout New Providence and the Family Islands, in addition to a few international athletes, are expected to compete in what is being billed as the biggest meet to be staged in Grand Bahama this year.

Events on tap for day one on Friday are the 100 metres, 100/110m hurdles, 1,500m, 400m, long jump, and shot put.

Saturday’s finale will include the 400m hurdles, 3000m, 200m, 800m, 4 x 100, and 4 x 400m relays, discus, and triple jump. “Initially when we planned this event, we were hoping to get a number of clubs and athletes to come in from the United States,” Ferguson said.

“But due to the fact that our COVID-19 restrictions are slowly being lifted, a lot of the teams were not able to organise themselves to travel to Grand Bahama.”

Ferguson, however, said with the number of junior and senior athletes registered to compete, he anticipates that it will be a very good quality meet over the weekend. “We know normally a lot of athletes and clubs don’t get to travel from Nassau to compete over here in Grand Bahama so we are very pleased with the response we have gotten from them,” Ferguson said.

“We hope that we can build on this as we make the event bigger and better in the future,” he added.

The entry fee is $10 per adult and $5 for children with the COVID-19 protocols strictly enforced. No masks, no entry, according to Ferguson.

The meet is being sponsored by Aliv, FTX, FOCOL, the Grand Bahama Port Authority, Pelican Bay and Akizia Designs.