ATHLETES from 14 countries, including hosts Jamaica and guest country Nigeria, will start arriving in the island today for this weekend’s two-day NACAC Combined events championships to be held at the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies, starting at 9:00 am.

Thirty-one athletes are confirmed for the event which will be held for the first time in three years and will be hosted here for the first time.

Twelve men will take part in the decathlon and 19 women in the heptathlon.

The countries that will be represented are Canada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, USA, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Martinique, Dominican Republic, Nigeria and Cuba.

Jamaica will be well represented in either event with World Championship silver medallist, Maurice Smith and Commonwealth games gold medallist, Claston Bernard taking part in the decathlon.

Commonwealth Games representative Peaches Roach, Tamilee Kerr and National Junior record-holder Salcia Slack will take part in the heptathlon.

American Sharon Day, who won the women’s event in 2009 when it was held in Havana, Cuba, will defend her title against Cuban Gretchen Quintana, who was fourth, and Canada’s Jennifer Cotton, who was ninth.

Quintana has already scored 6,017 points and is ranked third in the world so far this year. Day has a season’s best 5,828 points, while Cuba’s Yilain Durruty has scored 5,691 points.

Puerto Rico’s Marcos Sanchez, who was eighth in Havana, is the highest-placed athlete who is returning for this weekend’s event, while his compatriot Steven Marrero, who was ninth, will also return.

America’s Chris Randolph, with 7,664 points done last month, is the highest-ranked athlete in the field on the IAAF list, while Canada’s Damian Warner has scored 7,632 points already this year.

Events will start at 9:00 am on both days, with the lunch break at 11:30 am, and restarts between 1:30 and 2:00 pm.