FOUNDER of the Carifta Games, Austin Sealy, and accomplished American high school, Pine Crest, will take part in events to mark the seventh staging of the Douglas Forrest Invitational set for January 15 at Stadium East, it was announced at a press conference yesterday at the Alhambra Inn.

Regarded by the founder and chairman Brian Smith as the third best track and field development meet on the local calendar (after Boys and Girls Champs and the Gibson Relays), the Douglas Forrest Invitational is gaining a reputation as not just another athletic meet, but a two-day sports festival.

More than 3,000 athletes from some 80 schools are expected to take part in this year’s invitational with Sealy, whose named is impressed on the award given to the most outstanding athlete of the annual Carifta Games, and Pine Crest School from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, giving the competition the usual international flavour.

Noting that the recent upsurge in development meets since 2000 had led to improved performances from Jamaican athletes at major competitions, Smith also said that the committee was in negotiations with a team from Turks & Caicos Islands to attend.

Athletes will compete in 47 events at next week’s Douglas Forrest Invitational, which will begin at 8:30 am with the 400m hurdles and end at 5:45 pm with the 4x400m relays.

Competition will also take place in the 3,000m/5,000m, 200m, 800m, 1,500m, medley relay, long jump, high jump, shot put and triple jump.

Pine Crest School, however, will not be taking part in track and field events but rather in basketball competitions with Kingston College and St George’s College as part of “promoting sports among young people”.

Group marketing manager of Jamaica Money Market Brokers, one of the sponsors of the Invitational, said that the nation’s athletes have demonstrated that challenges “are really opportunities for us excel, for us to find that something deep inside”.

“The calibre of athletes who have participated in the Douglas Forrest Invitational since its inception, including Shawn Crawford, Me’Lisa Barber and Ato Boldon to name a few, is an indication of the high standards set and maintained by the organisers,” she stressed.

The meet is named after a former principal of Kingston College who served as headmaster for more than 30 years, resigning in 1971 but staying on staff until 1991 when his health failed. Forrest died in 1995.