CATHERINE HALL, St James — Stakeholders are brimming with hope that the Montego Bay Sports Complex at Catherine Hall will be able to host track and field competitions next year after badly needed repairs are carried out, especially on the all-weather running track.

Calls have been mounting for repairs to be done at the facility that has been closed to track and field since 2018, forcing several events such as the Western Relays, the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) Western Champs, and the Western Primary Championships to be moved out of the region.

Coaches and stakeholders from the region have argued that the absence of a synthetic running track in the area was doing a big disservice to western Jamaica which has produced several world and Olympic athletics champions.

Minister with responsibility for sports Olivia “Babsy” Grange warned that when the facilities are restored, maintenance and management will be of the highest priority.

Following the successful staging of the 49th Carifta Games at the National Stadium on Monday, while revealing that plans for the track will be ready for next year, Minister Grange told the Jamaica Observer West that “the track is going to be done, we have reached the point where we are going to sign off”.

“However, we have to make sure that going forward the right maintenance and management will be in place and Independence Park Limited is responsible for infrastructure,” she said.

“At the time the UDC completed (the facility), the municipality asked if it could be assigned to them and then Prime Minister Bruce Golding agreed, but now we have to be very realistic and we have to know that when we put something in place the maintenance programme will have to be very good as the track is going to cost a lot of money.”

Observer West was told that had the track been in good condition, last weekend’s Carifta Games would have been held at the Montego Bay Sports Complex which hosted the regional meet in 2011.

The facility was constructed under the Petro-Caribe agreement with the Jamaican Government and was officially opened in 2010 after being in use since 2002 when Western Champs was held there.

After years of calls for the synthetic track to be fixed to facilitate the return of track and field competition, news broke in February this year that efforts were being made to make repairs to the complex that had fallen into disrepair.

Since the closure of the track out of fear that it could cause damage to athletes, the COCAA Western Champs has moved to the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, along with the Western Primary Championships, while the Western Relays and the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica track and field championships were moved to GC Foster College of Physical Education & Sport in Angels, St Catherine.

There are six all-weather running tracks in Jamaica; GC Foster, the National Stadium, the Stadium East Field, Usain Bolt’s track at UWI-Mona, Jamaica College, and Calabar High.