OUTSTANDING junior athletes Deandre Daley and Shanoya Douglas — both from the western region of the island — are to be awarded at this year’s Western Relays which is scheduled for Saturday, February 8 at G C Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in St Catherine. The announcement was made by Ray Harvey, chairman of the organising committee and co-founder of Western Relays.

Daley, a former Herbert Morrison Technical sprinter, is among a very select group of athletes to become a repeat Junior Achievement awardee.

Daley suffered what must have been one of his most fruitless seasons, failing to win an individual medal at the COCAA Western Champs, finishing fourth in the Class 1 Boys’ 100m. He failed to get into the final of the event during the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association(ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, at which he was expected to challenge for the gold medal.

Putting all that behind him, Daley qualified for his first World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Lima, Peru, where he made a mark. After just missing a medal in the individual 100m, he ran what has been described as one of the best sprint relay anchor legs ever by an athlete at that level.

Having received the baton in fourth place, Daley sped down the track on a bitingly cold evening and led Jamaica to its first men’s global sprint relay gold medal in years, edging the Great Britain team on the line and with the entire stadium in disbelief.

Few athletes have ever had the impact that Douglas had in the 2024 season during which every weekend it seemed she was running faster and faster, rewriting records books and resetting targets.

From her first meet, running 24.16 seconds in the 200m at the JC Sprint Fest on January 5, to 55.53 in the 400m and a wind-aided 11.70 in the 100m the next day, she held the attention of track and field fans all season long.

Douglas, who won the women’s 100m at last year’s staging of the Western Relays, would go on to win the 400m final at Western Champs and was one of the stars at the ISSA Championships, winning the Class 2 200/400m double.

After finishing fifth in the CARIFTA Games Under 17 200m final in 2023, last year she was the Under 20 champion, winning three gold medals as she formed part of both relay teams.

A bronze medal in the 200m at the World Athletics Under 20 Championships and a relay gold ended her very long but rewarding season.

This year’s Western Relays will be its 46th staging. The event schedule will feature the throws — Discus and shot put for all classes for girls and boys at the high school level for the second time, after being introduced in 2024. The invitational 60m for clubs and institutions also will be on the schedule again, based on the requests of coaches at the senior level.

The other events on the day, which is sceduled to begin at 10:00 am, are relays for all classes for prep, primary, high schools, clubs and institutions; hurdles for all classes; field events to include Long Jump, Triple Jump and High Jump; sprint races 100m, 400m; 800m; 3000m; and the 1500m.

The meet is to start with the 400m Hurdles for the first time, based on a review by the organising committee which reasoned that tweaking the schedule will result in saving valuable time.