MUNRO, St Elizabeth — After 17 years at the helm of the track and field programme at Munro College, Neil Harrison says leaving the St Elizabeth school to take up another job was one of “the hardest decisions” he had to make.

It was confirmed last week that Harrison would be the new coach at Kingston College, their third coach in as many years.

The decision has forced Munro College to start searching for a new head coach as well as a Sports Master.

Harrison will be the first non- Kingston College past student to coach the school in over 50 years.

“There comes a time in life when you have to take on a new challenge,” Harrison told the Jamaica Observer West last week.

“I am never afraid of a challenge and I am taking on this one with strong faith.”

Even so, Harrison who was born and raised in Kingston, says it would be tough leaving a place where he had come to regard as home, emphasising that he will miss track and field in western Jamaica.

Under his guidance, Munro College lost the Western Champs title just twice – once to Cornwall College and another to St Elizabeth Technical- and has kept the school in the top 10 at the ISSA Boys Champs during the period.

Going to Kingston College, the most successful school in Boys Champs history, he argues, would give him a shot at winning the Mortimer Geddes trophy, symbol of schoolboys’ track and field supremacy, something he says, he could only dream of at Munro.

“We just don’t have the depth at Munro to go after Boys Champs titles,” he said, adding that he has however, consistently found ways to make the school’s presence felt with a series of outstanding performances, including back to back 4x400m wins at the Penn Relays and a long unbeaten run in the event both here and internationally.

Harrison is also proud of his record of sending boys on scholarships after completing their high school education at Munro College with over 150 moving into tertiary institutions under his tenure.

He says he is eagerly looking forward to his new assignment, as he believes his good relationships with coaches in Kingston, especially Michael Clarke and Julian Robinson at Calabar High, Kingston College’s main rivals at Champs.

Harrison believes his good relationship with Clarke and Robinson as well as the Calabar High headmaster Albert Corcho who he knew when they were both at Munro College, could help to further defuse some of the tensions between the two schools.