Source: www.cmcmedia.com
l BRIDGETOWN
This year's CARIFTA Games, scheduled for April 22-24, is now in serious jeopardy of suffering a historic cancellation.
This follows a number of potential hosts turning down the chance to stage the region's marquee junior track and field meet, which is typically held over the Easter weekend.
It would be the first time in its 40-year history that the CARIFTA Games, the first international exposure for the region's top junior athletes, would be put "off-track".
The Bahamas was looking over the possibility of staging the meet, but track and field officials in Nassau took a firm decision last Thursday not to host the event that attracts close to 1,000 athletes, plus a complementary number of officials.
A report on the Jamaica-based TrackAlerts website indicated that The Bahamas had withdrawn their candidature because they had not received a written commitment from the North America, Central America & Caribbean Track & Field Association with less than three months to go before the meet.
Trinidad and Tobago were also being identified as a possible alternative, but Ephraim Serrette, president of the National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA), has emphatically stated that the two-island republic is also not in a position to stage the meet.
He explained in an article appearing in Sunday's Newsday newspaper that a host needs over a year for proper planning, and it would be impossible to stage the event now.
"No way! Three months is not sufficient time for us to host any Games," he told the newspaper.
"A lot of things have to be put in place like getting the Government to commit. Too much has to be done in a short space of time. You have to get hotel rooms, meals, and transport. I don't think so."
He added: "It's sad because the junior athletes look forward to CARIFTA. The only way I can see us hosting is if they push the Games to a later date, and I can't see that happening because you have examinations, Pan Am Juniors, and other international events."
Jamaica also turned down the chance to stage the Games because it fell too near to its International Invitational two weeks later, and they did not feel they had the capacity to host two major events so close to each other.
The Games were originally scheduled to be staged in St Kitts, but they decided late last year not to follow through with their commitment.