Published On:Wednesday, November 18, 2009

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHEN he served as president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) in 1994, Alpheus "Hawk" Finlayson approached businessman Harrison Petty with the idea of sponsoring the National High School Cross Country Championships.

Twenty years later, the championships continue to remain a vibrant event on the BAAA calendar. As a matter of fact, the championships has been placed on the same day as the BAAA annual general meeting.

The BAAA AGM, which will also include the election of officers for the next three years, is set for 9am Saturday in the conference room on the ground floor of the Ministry of Education, Thompson Boulevard.

Also on Saturday starting at 1 pm in Haynes Oval at Fort Charlotte, the BAAA is scheduled to hold the 20th annual Colony Club Cross Country Championships.

During a press conference yesterday at the Colony Club, Finlayson, who is seeking another term in office as the BAAA public relations officer, said in keeping the tradition alive of hosting the championships, the BAAA is living up to the mandate of its governing body IAAF, which is responsible for track and field, road racing, cross country and mountain running.

"We all know that the Central American and Caribbean Confederation have had cross countries in the past," Finlayson said. "As a matter of fact, we had the CAC Cross Country Championships here in 1994.

"NACAC has taken over the cross country championships and I think we're planning on doing the NACAC cross country championships in the future."

Coming on the heels of the CH Reeves Junior High School's 16th annual Cross Country Championships, Finlayson said they have developed a long and rich legacy with the Colony Club, who through their sponsorship, hosted one of the championships in Grand Bahama.

And he hopes that as the event is put on Saturday, they will have a significant amount of Bahamian high school students come out and participate.

Sherwin Stuart, a BAAA council member who will be vying for the post of first vice president, announced that they are pleased to once again engage the services of coach Stephen Murray as the meet director.

Murray, according to Stuart, has had a stellar career with the middle and long distance programme since he switched from running to coaching.

Stuart noted that Murray has planned a number of trips abroad with his Striders Track Club and has served with distinction as a coach of many national teams.

He further stated that while Murray declined to say much, he let his work ethic speak for him. Just recently Murray was awarded the first Caribbean Bank's Unsung Hero Award for his outstanding community service.

Murray, who has been responsible for developing some of the top distance runners in the country, such as Ramona Nicholls, Alexis Wilson, Lucille Guerrier and Denzil 'Oneil' Williams, said he has always had a passion for distance running and the cross country.

He revealed that once again, this year's championship will be geared for competitors for under-13 and under-15 divisions for junior high schools and under-17 and under-20 for the high schools.

"The NACAC Cross Country has a junior division and so we will have the course set up where the under-20 and under-17 boys will run a 6k course so we can know and identify who will take part in the championships next March," Murray said.

As for the under-17 and under-20 girls, Murray said they will do a 4K course, which is also being used to groom our competitors for the NACAC Cross Country.

The under-13 and under-15 competitors will also run a 4K course, but they will not be eligible for the NACAC Championships.

Unfortunately, Murray said, as this is the High School Nationals, they won't have a primary school division.

Mike Sands, who will be vying once again for the post of president, said the championships will again provide a chance for the schools to try and dethrone the CR Walker Knights and the CH Reeves Raptors, the reigning senior and junior high school champions respectively.

And based on what they saw at the CH Reeves Cross Country Championships, Sands said there is going to be a lot of individual match-ups as competitors compete not just for the team trophies but also awards presented to the first three finishers.