THE first track meet of the junior athletics season, the 16th staging of the Covenant/Pediasure Over Distance Development Track Meet, to be held on April 18 at the UWI Bowl, was launched yesterday at Cari-Med’s head office.

Abbott Nutrition International (makers of Pediasure and Ensure) and Cari-Med Ltd (distributor of Pediasure) have announced their continued four-year partnership as title sponsors of the event with a whopping $650,000 package.

Allison Dexter, Cari-Med’s senior brand manager, said these types of meets are the feeding ground for the stars that fans witnessed just last week at Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championship.

“Records continue to be broken, the track and field continue to be blazing and we in the stands continue to be in awe of what we saw,” said Dexter.

“This is the feeding ground — your Prep and Primary schools where the talent is unearthed and developed. Cari-Med understands this concept of helping to nurture and develop the child from an early age,” she noted.

The meet, which was started in 2000 with nine schools, will see approximately 21 schools and over 1,000 students participating this year, with the introduction of the high jump for a total of 24 events. Action will start at 8:30 am.

Evangeline Smith, principal of host school Covenant Christian Academy, said in a few years’ time some of these athletes participating now will be stars at Champs.

“I pause to recognise one of our very own, Megan Simmons, who continues to blaze a trail nationally and internationally in the field of sports, particularly hurdles,” she pointed out.

“The 16th staging of the Covenant/Pediasure Over Distance Development Meet will be like no other. It continues to be the premier development athletics event that focuses on sportsmanship and fair play at the prep school level,” said Smith, who is also a Justice of the Peace.

There will be a special relay emphasis this year with cash prizes totalling $100,000 for the first two schools and coaches.

There will also be a new feature called the Kiddies Village equipped to accommodate children up to the age of eight years old. The village will provide caregivers with activities for siblings not participating in races, thus allowing parents to watch and cheer on students who are competing. There will be Bounce-A-Bout and Merry-Go Round as part of the added entertainment.

Meanwhile, sportscaster Leighton Levy, who was the guest speaker, urged the athletes to know their past in order to know where they are going in track and field.

He also implored the teachers to pass on that knowledge to the young ones about Jamaica’s storied history from Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley to Don Quarrie and Merlene Ottey, and to Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, or they run the risk of losing the youngsters to other things of interest.

“We don’t do enough learning about our past. Many high school kids today don’t know those who came before them. They made significant sacrifices so that we are where we are today,” he said.

“We need things to inspire these kids. They do it because they are told to, and this is why we lose many of them because they are not inspired,” Levy added.

Levy, who hosts a radio sport programme, Sportsnation on Nationwide 90 FM, pleaded with the young athletes to do their research and read about Jamaica’s legendary runners and try to be like them, or better. That, he believes, is the catalyst for greatness.