THE University of Technology, (UTech) Jamaica yesterday announced plans for the staging of the university’s two premier annual sporting events — the fourth annual Caribbean Conference on Sport Sciences to be held next week Friday at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, and the seventh annual invitational Track and Field Classic to be held at the National Stadium next week Saturday.

Details of the upcoming sporting events were announced at a press briefing held at Lillian’s restaurant, UTech Papine campus.

The Track and Field Classic, which has been set up as a finals only format, promises non-stop, exciting action from 4:00 to 8:00 pm. Participants will include top preparatory and primary schools competing against each other in the 4x100m relay, top high school teams and top collegiate teams competing in the 4x100m and 4x400m for women, the 4x100m, 4x400m and 4x800m for boys.

Other track events include the 400m hurdles for men and women, the 800m for women and men, the 400m for women and men, and the 100m hurdles for women, and the 110m hurdles for men. Scheduled field events are the long jump for both men and women, discus for women, and shot put for men.

Schools scheduled to compete include Calabar, Jamaica College, Munro, Wolmer’s, St Elizabeth Technical, Kingston College, St Jago, Hydel, among others. Alongside UTech/MVP athletes, participants from GC Foster College, Sprintec, Cameron Blazers and Racers Track Club, and international athletes from the Caribbean as well as Namibia will be on show.

Meet director and UTech/MVP Track and Field coach Paul Francis, in his overview, noted that the Track and Field Classic is an “ideally placed meet”, considering that “the fanfare of high school championships and intercollegiate championships will be done and athletes will become more focused on the longer term goals such as global meets, like World Juniors and the Commonwealth Games”.

Francis said the UTech Classic will give high school students the only opportunity to run their school’s strongest team before the Penn Relays and the World Relay Championships to be held in the Bahamas in May.

Laurence Garriques, Acting Director of Sport, UTech in his welcome, said, “UTech continues to provide a world-class track and field meet showcasing our talented university student athletes competing against the best at different levels.”

He noted that the integration of the preparatory, primary and secondary level schools in the Classic supports UTech’s thrust for the total development of track and field in Jamaica.

Chairman of the organising committee for the Track and Field Classic and President of MVP Bruce James said the exciting event will be an “all-star event showcasing the best of the best”. He noted that the meet will be “spectator friendly” not only inside the National Stadium, but throughout the world.

In addition to announcers who will provide information in a timely manner, the meet will be broadcast live on TVJ and TVJ Sports as well as via live stream on the Gleaner’s website.

Additionally, large time display boards will enable spectators to keep abreast of run times immediately after each event. The patron of the 2014 meet will be Professor Errol Morrison, President, UTech.

Only the grandstand area of the National Stadium will be opened for the meet. Tickets will be available at the stadium beginning at 10:00 am at a cost of $1,000.