AFTER a period of uncertainty and two weeks later than usual all systems are in place for today’s 35th annual Gibson Relays at the newly-laid Regupol all-weather track at the National Stadium starting at 9:30 am.

Today’s relays will be the last real test for teams in preparation for the 2011 ISSA/Boys and Girls Athletics Championships set for March 30 to April 2.

Over 3,500 athletes have registered to participate with the leading high school teams, including defending boys champions Wolmer’s, along with Calabar, Jamaica College, Kingston College, and Munro and defending girls champions Holmwood Technical, as well as Edwin Allen, Manchester, and St Jago.

At least 12 overseas teams have registered for competition organisers told Sporting World.

Eight teams from Birmingham, England will be in action in several high school events, while there are two teams from the French Caribbean island of Martinique, as well as from the British dependencies of Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands.

Racers Track Club, which, anchored by double sprint world record holder Usain Bolt set a new record in the clubs and institutions men’s 4x100m relay last year, will compete today minus Bolt, while the elite athletes from the MVP Track and Field Club, including former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell, will also be absent.

National 400m record holder Jermaine Gonzales will, however, be in action for Racer’s in the clubs and institutions men’s 4x400m relay.

The 4x100m relays for Class One boys is expected to be one of today’s most hotly contested events.

St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) won the event at both the Milo Western Relays and Western Championships, but Munro coach Neil Harrison told Sporting World that his team will not be making it easy for their ‘bread basket’ parish rivals.

“We chose not to run at West so STETHS won,” Harrison said.

Western champs Class Three boys 4x100m relay winning team Munro will also be in action, while Munro will also be lining up teams in the 4x800m and 4x400m Open. STETHS and Munro will be jostling for position here as well.

STETHS took the title at the Western Relays, while Munro won at last week’s Western Championships.

Youth Olympic Games 100m champion Odean Skeen should add steam to the line up for the Wolmer’s Boys Class One sprint relay team though head coach David Riley told Sporting World that the jury is still out on whether last year’s champs Class One 100m champion Julian Forte will compete.

Both athletes have been nursing similar ailments for much of the last year and Riley said Forte may be asked to sit this one out in an effort to be cautious ahead of Boys’ championships. Team captain and last year’s runner-up Ramone Bailey will compete in the men’s long jump.

Meanwhile, Kingston College coach Michael Russell said the injured Stephen Sutherland would be missing from the 4x400m team, but that there would be teams competing in all except the Class One boys 4x200m.

“We will be doing some mixing so it might not be a full strength team,” he added. “We’re not going to go full strength this close to Champs.”

Calabar coach Michael Clarke was taking a similar approach though he told Sporting World that his teams would “be competitive in all the relays”.

On the girls side, Maurice Wilson, coach of Holmwood, said that he not only expected to have teams in all finals of the girls 4x100m relays, but that he was also expecting victory in this evening’s girls 4x400m Open, the penultimate and one of the most anticipated of the evening.

Holmwood finished third to the visiting Team Bickle USA and Manchester High in 2010, while Clarendon-based Edwin Allen took the title at both the Central Championships and Milo Western Relays in February.

“We are basically ahead of where we were at Central Champs,” Wilson said.

He was not expressing any concern about the relative closeness of today’s meet to defending his team’s Girls Championships title at the end of the month.

“If we not ready now you will not be ready for Champs… I’m coming out to perform. There’s no holding back,” he said.

Edwin Allen’s head coach, Michael Dyke said his team would be in all events except the Class One 4x200m and in response to Wilson’s prediction for the Girls Mile Relay told Sporting World: “Any result that comes for me today will be a good one. I’m not trying to prove anything so I won’t try to doubt him (Wilson) for tomorrow (today).”

The team’s line-up should be bolstered by Ristananna Tracey, who has been in record-breaking form over both 400m hurdles and 800m this season.

Meanwhile, sponsors Gatorade have increased the value of their record-breakers prize to $800,000, up from $500,000 last year. Ten records were broken at the Relays in 2010.