MONTEGO BAY, St James — The second staging of the County of Cornwall Athletics Association’s (COCAA) Field, Distance and Hurdles meet will take place today at Cornwall College, starting at 9:30 am.

The early-season meet that will focus on the ‘non-traditional’ events is expected to be well-attended by high schools from western Jamaica, as well as athletes from clubs and institutions.

There will be races from 800m to 5,000m for both male and female, sprint hurdles events, 70m, 80m, 100 and 110m, as well as the 400m Open.

There will also be relays over 4x800m, as well as the Distant Medley Relay (DMR).

In the field, there will be competition in both the shot put and discus, as well as the long and high jumps.

The Field, Distance and Hurdles meet was traditionally hosted by Mannings School in Sav-la-Mar, but was taken over by COCAA last year and is the third meet held in western Jamaica since the start of the track season late last year.

Earlier, COCAA staged the Cross Country Championships last year in Darliston, Westmoreland, and two weeks ago there was the First Chance Meet hosted by Irwin High School.

Meanwhile, the dates for Western Champs, the premier high school track and field meet in western Jamaica, was recently announced and the finals will again be held on a Saturday.

The meet will be held over three days in February — 16th, 18th and 20th — and it is expected that the finals will return to the Catherine Hall mini-stadium, which is in its final stages of completion.

In the last 10 years or so, the three-day meet was spread over several days with all the competition dates falling during the week.

It was, however, decided last year that to boost spectator attendance the final day should be on a Saturday.

With the unavailability of the Catherine Hall venue last year, the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex hosted the final.

William Knibb Memorial High in Martha Brae, Trelawny, will host the girls’ eliminations on February 16 and two days later, Herbert Morrison High in Montego Bay will host the boys’ eliminations.

The finals will be held on Saturday, February 20, a week after the 32nd staging of the Milo Western Relays, the biggest track meet outside of Kingston.

St Elizabeth Technical girls and Munro College boys are the respective defending champions at Western Champs.