The opening day of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) is often considered the day with the lowest attendance, but two dedicated fans made it a priority to arrive early to show the athletes support.

Kingston College (KC) old boy Michael McCook, brother of late track and field administrator Neville “Teddy” McCook was the first to take his seat in the upper section of an empty grandstand at the National Stadium.

He’s been attending Champs since his school days in 1964 and returns consistently due to the thrilling events.

“The excitement keeps me coming back and support for my school but I can tell you, even when KC not winning, I like to see good running,” McCook said. “It’s a joy watching the Edwin Allens and Holmwoods, and so forth. It’s just a great meet overall,” he said.

Former discus thrower at Calabar High, Philip Burke-Green, was also among the first inside the stadium and, as he’s being doing for decades, made it a priority to attend.

“Vacation is standard every year during Champs,” he said. “I’ll work through any other day but Champs is definitely a must, so I commit to it and stick to it.

“It’s the energy we get from Champs and we see diamonds in the rough coming up from the top-tier schools and the lesser-known schools, so it’s just a genesis of what will come down the road.”

Over the decades, McCook says athletes participating at Champs have set themselves apart from their international counterparts.

“That’s one of the reasons it has been known as the number one schoolboy and schoolgirl championship in the world,” he said. “I lived in the United States for 21 years and I went to a lot of sporting events, but no high school meet there could match this.

“Last year, I spoke to a coach from Arkansas because a lot of KC athletes, including [Wayne] Pinnock and [Omar] McLeod all went there, and he said although he gets athletes from other schools, he likes getting athletes from KC because they do well academically and with the sports.”

Burke-Green is hoping more Jamaicans will follow in his footsteps in attending Champs in the opening days to make the athletes feel more important.

“Every kid needs to be able to look up and know someone is supporting them, win, lose or draw. This is not about being the next Olympic champion, but helping them to understand they have support and that will help them through life to achieve a whole lot, just to know that ‘there is somebody is up there for me’.”

McCook is anticipating one thing from his alma mater.

“I expect KC to win this year and even next year,” he said.

But Burke-Green believes Calabar can pull off an upset.

“I believe we’ll be fighting straight to the end and we’re going to be very close,” Burke-Green said. “It’s on paper for us to come second but Champs isn’t run on paper, so it’s going to be very interesting.”