There will be major changes to next week’s staging of the Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA)/CPJ Invitational Friendship meet at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

At Tuesday’s media launch held at the CPJ offices in Freeport, meet manager Winston Keyes said all events would be run as timed finals with teams allowed to enter an additional athlete to make it a total of three per school.

Previously the format saw the athletes running heats in the morning and final later in the day, but Keyes said that in addition to pushing the length of the one-day meet well into the night, it was also physically taxing to the youngsters to be contesting so many events in one day.

Under the new format, the youngsters will run their heats and the top eight be awarded points, with the top three getting edals. Additionally, he said, the winner of each heat would receive a certificate.

Some 30 schools will participate in the event.

The meet manager also stressed that the event will start on time at 8:30am, as he urged coaches and managers to ensure that the athletes get to the venue on time, adding that only students with identification cards will be allowed to compete.

Athletes will be allowed to compete in up to four events, but only two individual track events — a relay and a field event.

— Paul Reid