CARIFTA team tours Catherine Hall complex

Paul Reid

Monday, February 14, 2011

CATHERINE HALL, St James — The organisers of the 40th CARIFTA Games were impressed with the Montego Bay Sports Complex that will host the regional championships in April following a tour on Saturday.

A three-member delegation led by North America Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) president Neville 'Teddy' McCook and including Ester Maynard of Barbados and Alain Jean Pierre of Haiti, toured the facilities during the 33rd staging of the Milo Western Relays.

While saying there would be some minor adjustments for the staging of the three-day meet between April 23 and 25, McCook told the Observer they were impressed with what they saw.

"Yes we were satisfied with what we saw. There appears to be a lot of space and we are quite impressed with the facilities here," he said.

Maynard is the technical delegate, while Jean Pierre is the organisational delegate.

Meanwhile, McCook said other areas were progressing nicely and they were hoping that within a week a number of things would be finalised.

The NACAC president said the delegation had visited a potential games village that was not too far from Montego Bay and they intend to request the use of the facility through the Parish Council.

A chairman of the Local Organising Committee is to be identified before the planning could pick up pace.

The Montego Bay complex was named to host the premier regional junior championships recently after several other territories had passed it on.

The hosting of the meet, that was first held in 1972, was placed in doubt after St Kitts, who was to host it this year, said late last year they were not able to do so.

Bahamas and two other territories were named as possible hosts, but they too turned down the opportunity.