The 34th staging of the annual Gibson Relays was held at the National Stadium last Saturday. Even though the hype that typically surrounds the event died down early because of the withdrawal of powerhouse Calabar High School, the event still offered much to fans and left patrons feeling supremely satisfied.

The girls section was dominated by the team from the US. Team Bickle USA, the combined High school squad, took home two of the three Championship events. They started off by taking the 4×800 metres in a record time of 8:41.92. The highly favoured Edwin Allen contingent placed second in 8:51.57. The Team Bickle outfit again proved too strong in the 4×400 by turning back a strong Manchester High squad in a time of 3:37.23.

Manchester High was able to capitalise on mishaps of favourite Edwin Allen in the heats to claim the Class One 4×100 metres in a smart 45.52 seconds ahead of Holmwood Technical who clocked 45.66seconds.

Other sprint relay winners included Holmwood, Queens and St Jago High. St Elizabeth Technical’s Class Two standout Rochelle Farquharson also triumphed in the open Long Jump.

In the Boy’s section, the fallout from the absence of Calabar High was expected to have the greatest effect. However, as the finals began, their presence was no longer missed as the teams came out to give their all in representation of their schools. In what can only be viewed as proof the pundits have been correct, all the marquee events went to different schools. The Class One 4×100 metres went to a crisp St Georges’ College team in 40.24 seconds with a powerful Wolmer’s squad coming home in second place.

Class Two went to Kingston College in 41.80 while Class Three went to a speedy Jamaica College quartet in a record time of 43.42 seconds. The youngsters from Wolmer’s would not be outdone as their class four quartet romped home in a time of 44.51 seconds, a record for that class.

The 4×800 metre relay went to Holmwood Technical in a strong 7:45.55 while fending off a strong challenge from a resilient Kingston College team.

After leading for most of the race, Kingston College faded badly in the last 200 metres of the 4×400 metres and was beaten into third by a superb Wolmers’ and sneaking Vere Technical outfit in the final race of the meet.

A Usain Bolt-led all-star Racer Lions squad ran a brilliant 38.08 world leading time in the men’s 4×100 metres turning away all contenders. The most entertaining race of the day, however, came from the men’s 4×400 metres when on the anchor leg Usain Bolt tried his best to close a 30 metre gap and in a superb 43.58 split could only manage second as Keniel Lee of Utech was just too much to be overtaken. After the race, Bolt was seen flat on his back on both the track and on the infield after giving all he had.