12th Douglas Forrest Invitational launched
Smith was speaking yesterday at the Alhambra Inn during the launch of the 12th staging of the Douglas Forrest Invitational Meet set for the National Stadium.
On that day, there will be the Manchester High School/Charlie Fuller Field Events in Mandeville and the JAAA/Puma Development Meet at Kirkvine.
“Because of one Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce we have so many athletes competing and I have been saying this for a while, we need to have at least three to four meets a week so we can give our athletes an opportunity of competing,” said Smith.
“Years gone by there were no opportunities for athletes to compete on a regular basis. When you look at the United States, every weekend they have so many meets where they can compete,” he pointed out.
The meet started in 2005 in honour of the second principal of Kingston College, Douglas Forrest, who would have been 107 years old on October 22, 2015. He died in 1995 at age 87.
The meet is scheduled to start at 8:30 am sharp and end at 6:00 pm. Only the grandstand will be opened with an entrance fee of $300.
The events to be contested are the 400m hurdles; 5,000m male; 3,000m female; 200m; 800m; 1,500m medley relay; 4x400m; long jump; high jump; shot put; triple jump, discus and javelin.
Jamaicans could get the first glimpse of the new look Cameron Blazers track club as they are expected to field some athletes competing over 800m.
However, it is not sure whether their two new elite athletes, Kaliese Spencer and Christine Day, formerly of MVP, will compete.
Meanwhile, Dr Warren Blake, president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) and a past student of the famed Kingston College, congratulated the Douglas Forrest organisers saying they must be doing something good to have maintained almost all of their sponsors from the inception.
He had high praises for Forrest, who he noted, presided over the school during their most successful period in sports and academics in the 1960s.
Forrest joined the KC teaching staff before his 18th birthday in 1926, one year after the school was formed and became principal in 1935 and was a beloved French teacher and a lover of music until he retired in 1971.
“Mr Forrest would send you to his office to listen classical music as part of your punishment,” revealed Dr Blake, who entered KC in 1964.
