MONTEGO BAY, St James — President of the Jamaica Masters Athletics Association (JMAA) Leo McEwan has come out against what he describes as “apathy” towards masters athletics and warned that this kind of behaviour could lead to its demise.

While announcing a small team of five self-funded athletes who will represent Jamaica at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Porto Alegre, Brazil, between October 16 and 27, McEwan said. “This kind of apathy towards masters athletics will only result in its demise.”

He added, “It is a legitimate sporting activity for persons outside of the ‘glamour years’ and should be treated as such.”

In a release McEwan said the size of the team was impacted by the “high costs associated with going to Brazil and the fact that representatives to the championships have had to seek their own support”.

Among the five athletes who are scheduled to leave the island on October 14 are two newcomers, Samuels Brevett and Oral Anderson.

The team will be Maynard McIntosh in the 50-54 age category (100/200m); Brevett in the 45-49 (100/200m); Lynsworth Headley in the 70-74 (100m); Anderson in the 50-54 (5,000m), and Deaneth Edwards in the 35-39 (100/200m).

The team is expected to return to the island on October 28, a release from the Jamaica Masters Athletics Association said.

At the last staging of the championships in Sacramento, California, USA, Jamaica came away with two gold medals, courtesy of Winston Chambers in the 40-44 age category of the 400m hurdles, and Cecille Bordato in the 65-69 age division of the marathon. Neither of the two will be a part of the team this year, however, as Bordato has migrated, and Chambers is unavailable.

The World Masters Championships, which fall under the auspices of the World Masters Association (WMA), the masters arm of the IAAF, is held every two years and promote competition among athletes 35 years and upward. This year’s staging is expected to attract over 5,000 athletes from across the globe. The 2015 edition is scheduled for Lyon, France.