A month before the 100th anniversary of Boys Champs and three days before the Gibson Relays, John Mair has walked away from the position as head coach of Jamaica College (JC).

Mair, who has been at the Old Hope Road institution for 23 years, said he met with Jamaica College headmaster Ruel Reid on Monday to inform him of his decision.

Mair told the Observer yesterday that Reid asked him to take his time about the decision, but he said he had thought about it for some time and felt it necessary to make the move now.

“I just don’t have the energy and I feel like I want to step down now,” Mair told the Observer, adding: “It wasn’t an easy decision as I thought of the boys we had in the programme preparing for the upcoming meets.”

Mair said the decision was not a sudden one, but something he had been contemplating for a few months now and admitted that “there were some issues; I won’t wash our dirty linen in public. We will leave them right at 189 Old Hope Road.”

Mair said he did not think his leaving abruptly would affect the smooth flow of the programme, and according to team manager Ian Forbes, Orville Brown and Ortis Wynter would be put in charge in the interim.

Forbes, who said they were surprised by the decision, said “coach Mair’s leaving is a great loss because of his sterling contribution… the members of the team were sufficiently focused and prepared to do well”.

Forbes said Mair’s decision “was totally his… he was not pushed” and that “the door will always be open for coach Mair if he decides to change his mind after he gets some rest”.

The 45-year-old Mair, who attended both Meadowbrook High and Jamaica College and represented Jamaica in the relays at both the IAAF World Championships — winning a bronze medal in 1987 in Rome — and the 1988 Olympics, went to JC in 1987 where he assisted Michael Clarke until he took over full time.

During his time at JC, they won seven of their 20 titles — the last coming in 2000.

The titles aside, Mair said his years at JC were filled with a lot of accomplishments and he thought he “was a positive influence in the lives of so many youngsters who came through the gates of the school”.

Meanwhile, Forbes said Mair’s absence won’t be felt so much at this weekend’s Gibson Relays.

“Gibson is really a showpiece, a tune-up and a chance for the boys, especially the younger ones, to get used to the atmosphere of a big meet,” he said.

According to Forbes, the main focus would be Carifta Trials in another week, ‘Champs’ and other meets later in the year, and by then the situation would have worked itself out.