With athletic events unlikely to return to the Montego Bay Sports Complex for the foreseeable future, Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) President Keith Wellington believes the Government needs to intervene to prevent the sport’s growth from stalling in western Jamaica.

The high school track and field season is expected to intensify in the coming weeks as schools prepare for the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, scheduled for March 24-28 2026.

However, two major precursor events for western schools — the Western Athletic Championships and the Milo Western Relays — will once again be held at the GC Foster College in St Catherine due to the unfit state of the track at the Catherine Hall-based stadium.

The Mobay Sports Complex, currently operated by the Government through the St James Municipal Corporation, has not hosted a track and field meet since 2018, a situation which has left Wellington frustrated.

“I must use this opportunity to say to SDF [Sports Development Foundation], to say to the Ministry of Sport, to say to all concerned that it is your negligence why our western schools have had to, for the last umpteen years, be travelling to Kingston for every opportunity to compete in track and field,” he said on Leighton Levy’s
Mr Analyst podcast.

The Montego Bay Multi-Sports Development Limited, led by noted businessman Yoni Epstein, is set to lease the stadium, pending final approval from the Ministry of Local Government. Epstein told the Jamaica Observer that part of the $700 million investment includes upgrading the track to World Athletics standard.

Wellington though, believes the government must provide urgent financial assistance to Western schools to ease their expenses, especially as they grapple with extra costs caused by Hurricane Melissa.

“I think it is time that the Ministry of Sports, maybe through SDF, put together a budget each year until they fix Catherine Hall, to say that this will go to Western schools, this will go to Milo Western relays, this will go to those athletes in the West who can only compete by coming into Kingston,” he said.

“Because it can’t be us, it can’t be the individual schools that have to bear the burden of Jamaica’s track and field development because we have not been forthright to begin with and forceful enough to say that this is a complex that serves Western Jamaica.

Wellington, who also serves as principal of St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS), believes the Government’s willingness to upgrade the National Stadium for the now controversial Grand Slam Track last April is proof the track in Mobay can be done quickly.

A view of the track from the grand stand at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in St James. (Paul A Reid)

“At this stage, I don’t think there can be any excuses. We took four weeks to make a decision and to find the funding to resurface the National Stadium track to allow for foreigners to come to have a track and field meet and we’ve been waiting how many years (for Mobay)?” Wellington said.

“This is an opportunity for the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Sports through its various agencies to say that, listen, we have had enough, we are going to be doing this but in the meantime, let us support these Western entities to participate in track and field this year and not stifle Jamaica’s track and field development.”

Wellington says ISSA is doing its best to help schools’ track and field programmes in need of support following Hurricane Melissa.

“We have reached out to Puma, we’re trying to reach out to a supplier regarding gym equipment that the students may need, GraceKennedy is working with us to put together some sort of support for these schools so we are working,” he said.

“We have already started — some schools have already benefited in small ways, but we want to make it as meaningful as possible to ensure that the benefits that we’re doing for the schools will ensure that the students are able to participate and give up their best under the circumstances.”

ISSA President Keith Wellington (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Elaine Thompson-Herah (right) takes the baton from teammate Srabandi Nanda as she leads the MVP TC women’s 4x100m team to victory in 43.61 seconds at Saturday’s 39th staging of the Milo Western Relays at the Montego Bay Sports Complex. (Photo: Paul Reid)