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March , 2009
In 1972, Austin Sealy inaugurated
the CARIFTA Games to mark the transition from the Caribbean Free
Trade Association (CARIFTA) to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
CARIFTA was meant to enhance relations between the
English-speaking countries of the Caribbean after the dissolution
of the West Indies Federation, but the CARIFTA Games took that
idea a step further, including the French and Dutch Antilles in an
annual junior track & field championship meet.
The meet, which normally runs
over three days during the Easter period, includes over 150
separate events comprising sprints, hurdles, middle distance
events, jumping and throwing events, and relays. The Games has two
age categories for boys and girls; the under-17 and under-20
divisions, the latter in line with the International Association
of Athletics Federations (IAAF) guidelines for junior athletes.
The meet is run entirely under IAAF rules.
Each country may enter two
athletes per event and up to six athletes may be entered for relay
events (with two acting as substitutes) and three athletes in the
combined events such as Pentathlon or Heptathlon.
According to IAAF President, Mr.
Lamine Diack, CARIFTA is “on par with the World Championships.”
The meet is considered one of the best development meets in world
athletics. Having started out on grass tracks, with athletes
staying in schools or other similar temporary shelter, the CARIFTA
Games have come a long way. College and university coaches and
scouts from the United States make their way to the Games each
year, in a bid to identify the next up-and-coming superstar.
Superstars indeed. The Games have
produced World Record holders, Usain Bolt, Darrel Brown, World and
Olympic Champions such as Kim Collins of St Kitts-Nevis and
Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas, Alleyne Francique of
Grenada and Obadele Thompson of Barbados. CARIFTA has spawned
administrators like Dean Greenaway, President of the British
Virgin Islands Athletics Association and political leaders like
Lenard Montoute, St Lucia’s Minister of Youth & Sports.
That the XXVIII CARIFTA Games
will be held in St Lucia is in itself remarkable. In the early
years, a handful of territories (Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago,
Bahamas, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Bermuda) had facilities
appropriate for hosting what really is a world-class meet. Now, St
Lucia has joined Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis and Turks & Caicos, all
of whom have built brand new stadia in the past decade for the
CARIFTA Games.
The CARIFTA Aquatics
Championships is also held annually since 1985.
Terry Finisterre
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