ORGANISERS of today’s 17th staging of the Wata/Powerade/Jamaica College (JC) Track & Field Invitational, the first meet on the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association’s calendar, will be utilising the new IAAF false start rule.

Chairman of the organising committee Ian Forbes says having regard to the passing of the new one-false-start rule at last year’s IAAF Congress, which takes effect this month, his team will be implementing the changes.

“It doesn’t matter how long it’s delayed, the new rule will come into effect some time soon and I think it’s best to get our (Jamaican) youngsters and our seniors as well as fully sensitised with respect to this rule,” Forbes told the Observer. “Essentially, it’s one strike and you’re out, so I think in the interest of development it’s wise to introduce it early, so the athletes can get prepared moving forward,” the sports administrator added.

The meet, which serves as a qualifying event for the Boys’ & Girls’ Athletics Championships, will also be open to athletes from preparatory, primary and junior high schools, as well as clubs and institutions.

With approximately 2,300 athletes registered to compete in this year’s meet, up from 1,700 last season, Forbes indicated that provisions have been made to ensure that all athletes get to compete.

“We are hell-bent on completing the full slate of events, so in the event that we go beyond six o’clock, we have brought in lights as a contingency for the few minutes we may go beyond just to ensure all athletes get an opportunity to post a qualifying time or distance,” he reasoned.

As customary, the only track events that will not be on offer on today’s schedule are the 200 metres and 400m hurdles, while the triple jump will be absent from the list of events.

A maximum of four athletes per class, per team, will be allowed to compete in each event.

Forbes also indicated that 10 individual trophies will go to the top performing athletes selected by the judges in each class and category.

In the meantime, the meet organiser will be honouring Roger Chang, who has spearheaded the data processing and results generation at the meet for the past 15 years. Chang also works numerous other meets islandwide.

Spectators will be required to pay $200 dollars for entry to the meet, which is scheduled to run off at 8:30 am.

Track Events

100M

400M

800M

1,500M

3,000M (F)

5,000M (M).

70m hurdles

80m hurdles

100m hurdles

110m hurdles

Field Events

Long Jump

High Jump

Discuss

Shot Put

Pole Vault