MONTEGO BAY, St James — Jamaican junior track and field athletes will be facing an extended 2013 season as the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) are moving ahead with plans to take part in the Pan-American Junior Championships that has been rescheduled for Medellin, Colombia in late August.

The championships, which are held every two years, were originally set for Lima, Peru, from August 2-4, but were later shifted to Colombia. Further, the event was again rescheduled to the end of August because of clashes with other championships.

When asked on Friday whether the JAAA would be sending a team, the organisation’s president, Dr Warren Blake, said: “We never said otherwise.”

However, in mid-April, Garth Gayle, general secretary of the JAAA had told the Jamaica Observer that a meeting would be set to determine whether or not it would be feasible to take part in a championship that would be held that late in the season, almost a year after the athletes had started their preparations. Additionally, in late August some juniors may be getting ready to start new schools, some overseas while others are resting to begin preparations for the next season.

At the time, Gayle said: “Any late change of dates will adversely affect us as our schedules are predicated around the major international competitions organised by either NACAC or PanAmerican Organisation.”

The National Junior Trials to select the team for the Pan-American Championships and the IAAF Word Youth Championships are scheduled for June 15 and 16, a full 10 weeks before the championship in Colombia, but Blake said they had plans for weekend camps to keep the athletes ready.

He added: “It is the responsibility of the individual athletes and their coaches to keep the athletes in shape for the event.”

Gayle had said in April that at the very last resort the JAAA could decide not to take part in the championship if it would adversely affect the smooth running and schedule of the junior track and field programme.

The JAAA administrator said then Jamaica’s participation in the event would be predicated on a number of things, especially given the late notice.

“The change of date would cause a ripple effect as we now have to look at date for Trials for this particular championships, the availability of the National Stadium and its facilities, travel arrangements and myriad other considerations,” he said.

News came in April that the organisers of the bi-annual championship had been “forced” to change the dates and venue by almost three weeks due to “clashes with other events” inside and outside of Colombia.

The three-day games that was last held in Miramar, Florida in 2011, are open to athletes under the age of 20, and is regarded as the best test of junior track and field strength in the region, given the inclusion of the Cuban, American as well as Central and South American countries.

According to a release from the organiser in April, “The World Games of Non Olympic Sports will be held in Cali, Colombia, from the end of July to the middle of August, and according to organisers, “the date of August 2-4, 2013 is too close to the IAAF World Championships and the IAAF Congress that will be held in Moscow”.

“The Colombia Athletics Federation and the 2013 PanAmerican Junior Championships LOC have been forced to change the date of the event for August 23-25, 2013.

“Since we do not have any other alternative, we accepted the Colombia proposal, therefore, the new date for the 2013 Pan Am Juniors is August 23-25, 2013 in Medellin, Colombia,” Victor Lopez, a member of the Colombian organiser told members, while asking them to “take note and make the change in your calendar”.