Influx of foreign athletes for 'Gibson'

ORGANISERS of the 34th Gibson Relays are reporting that athletes from at least seven countries will be participating the annual relay carnival set for February 27 at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Life-long chairman of the organising committee, Neville 'Teddy' McCook, yesterday disclosed that athletes from North America and the Caribbean have indicated an interest in competing at Jamaica's biggest relay meet.

"Martinique has approached us from last year; I know Canada is sending teams again this year; the Cayman Islands and the Netherland Antilles have indicated an interest... Cuba has indicated an interest to send in people," McCook said at the launch at the Knutsford Court Hotel.

"I'm (also) trying to have a team from Guadeloupe. They're trying to bring 16 youngsters here for a week of training and I'm trying to impress upon them to bring them for Gibson Relays, but I don't know if that will materialise" he added.

McCook noted that athletes from Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Gambia who currently train at the IAAF High Performance Centre at the University of West Indies, Mona Campus, will also participate at the meet.

"So all in all, I think that we'll be seeing quite a bit of representation (of overseas athletes)," said, McCook, who also serves as president of the North America Central America and Caribbean Athletics Association.

The veteran sports administrator who previously served as president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) said title sponsors Gatorade will be offering the 'Record Breakers' prize of $500,000 for the fourth year running.

"The development of track and field, or any other sport, takes quite a bit of money and we feel that (this ongoing) initiative by Gatorade is to commemorate their association with the Relays," he reasoned. The prize was shared between 15 institutions and athletes last year.

"We're very grateful for this because I think the schools that will win can always use the additional funds, probably for development (or), probably for travel, so we're very happy that this aspect of the relays is continuing," McCook said, noting that he expects some stellar performances in the men's and women's sprint hurdles events this year.

"The hurdles event should be good this year because we're concentrating on getting good hurdles at the High Performance Training Centre.

"We have three or four hurdles up there at this point in time and so that event will be strengthened this year at the Gibson Relays," he said.

In the meantime, McCook disclosed that Special Olympic Jamaica is trying to invite their Caribbean neighbours to participate at the meet this year.

"I don't know if they will be successful, but this is something they are working on," he added.

Eight Championship events are among the 38 down to be contested at the Relays Carnival.

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