Track and field competition will resume in Jamaica this weekend after the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions by the Government, it was announced Thursday.

The series of meets will start tomorrow with the staging of Velocity Fest #9, the latest in the series put on by the MVP Track Club and will go through to Friday, April 30 and will include the three remaining high school regional championships.

A release from the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) on Thursday, listed the meets and further pointed out that the events will go ahead “pending approvals from the relevant authorities”.

The release did not mention the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, which the Jamaica Observer was reliably informed was approved by Government for May 11-15.

Yesterday’s release states that Central Champs is set to be held April 21-22 at GC Foster Sports College; Eastern Champs will be held at National Stadium on April 27, and the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) Western Champs to be held at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex on April 29.

A total of 18 meets for both seniors and juniors have also been planned to be held at several venues across the island.

Twenty track and field meets had been held under the approval of the Jamaican Government and under the auspices of the JAAA, from February 27 until late March when the approvals were withdrawn due to a rise in new positive cases of COVID-19.

— Paul Reid