MONTEGO BAY, St James — The ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, arguably the greatest high school track and field festival on planet earth, is set to get underway on March 15.

The schedule will be the same as it has been for the past few years, with a few alterations, including the addition of a fifth day, ostensibly to give the teen-aged athletes, especially those contesting the newly added steeplechase and middle-distance runners, more time to recover.

There have been increased calls in the past couple of years for even more changes with the welfare of the athletes in mind and to bring the championships in line with the international calendar.

One of the changes that has been mooted is running the three rounds of the 100m on the first two days, as is done at all the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The argument is that the early start of the finals will be a win-win for ISSA, athletes and fans. The move would benefit specifically sprinters who are doubling in the 100m/200m, who would not have to run the 100m final on Friday evening then return for the 200m less than 24 hours later.

It is also argued that this scenario would create ‘major finals’ on four of the five evenings at Champs, rather than the situation where just under 80 finals are completed over the last three sessions with 52 in a seven-hour period on Saturday’s final session, including the 200m, 400m and 800m and all relays.

A number of top coaches interviewed by the Jamaica Observer recently agreed with changes with the proviso that the changes must be done with the athletes in mind.

Chair of Champs planning committee, Colleen Montague, says while ISSA is “always open to new ideas”, the decision to make such wide-reaching changes must come from the technical committee headed by Glen Mills and the experts.

Montague argued that they had facilitated changes over the years and said “it has to be changes within the policy of how you operate a high school competition”.

“We appreciate all the thoughts and all the comments that compare our event to a World Championship and the Olympics, but in terms of the number of events that one athlete can compete in, it is something we are constantly seeking to review,” said the principal of Wolmer’s Girls.

Montague indicated that one of the reasons why Champs is the success that it is can be attributed to the fact that ISSA has always been flexible and welcomes positive suggestions.

“The issue has come up before and where we are now, is as a result of changes over the years… it’s not that it is static and will always evolve, it’s a dynamic situation and we will change according to needs and concerns and we will always consult the experts in the field,” she said.

Neil Harrison, who is in his second year as the head coach at Kingston College after a successful run at Munro College, told the

Observer he was for change.

“Anything that is in the best interest of the athletes, anything that will give you time to recover properly and to participate in the event to the best of your ability, I am all for that.” he said.

The man who has produced outstanding athletes such as Delano Williams who now competes for Great Britain, added: “Difficult might be too strong a word to use to describe the (present schedule), but it is challenging and the schedule is generally very tight and so we have to be very strategic in terms of how you utilise the athletes.”

Spreading out the finals over more days, he said, has merits.

“Once there is a situation where some finals are scheduled earlier in the championships, it gives you a better opportunity of how you utilise the athletes from one event to the next and whatever is in the best interest of the athletes… I am all for that,” Harrison said.

He added that running the 200m, 400m and 800m finals on one afternoon taxes the athletes after a long championships.

David Riley, the man in charge at Excelsior High School, agrees with Harrison. “Arranging the events to allow athletes to get a lot more rest between events is good… right now it comes down to the last day where everything is packed into the last day,” he shared.

Riley, who was head coach at Wolmer’s Boys when they won Champs in 2010, said: “There can be a look by the technical committee at changing events a bit to allow for rest and to make Champs more of a championships over five days rather than have so many finals on the last day alone.”

Michael McIntosh, one of the rising coaching stars in the island and who holds an IAAF Level Four certificate in jumps and hurdles, has also found favour with the recommendation.

“Whatever schedule will allow the athletes to maximise their physical and mental recovery, I am totally in favour of it,” he chimed in.

The head coach at Green Island High said rescheduling some finals earlier in the week “would make sense, but we would have to look at the logistics”.

“This would mean that every day at Champs would see big crowds, instead of just Friday and Saturday where the large crowds trying to get tickets which leads to chaos,” he noted.

Jerry Holness, who recently returned to take up the reins at Manchester High after several years away. was a bit more cautious.

“It’s hard for me to say just now as I would need to see the new schedule before I can make a comment one way or the other,” he said.

Holness, who has led many national teams on international duties at both junior and senior levels, questioned who such a change would benefit the most.

“Who will benefit? Anything that will benefit the athletes I will always go for that, but if it’s a matter of making changes to satisfy sponsors then we must be careful.

“I am happy for sponsors coming on board to make the meets better, but whatever we are doing we must first take into consideration the athletes’ welfare,” he ended.