ST JAMES, Jamaica — Stephen Smith, president of the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA), has described the cancellation of Tuesday’s visit to Montego Bay Sports Complex by World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe as “another blow to sports” in the western region of the country.

It is widely believed that the unsettled situation with the ownership of the Montego Bay Sports Complex was the reason for the cancellation of the visit. The multi-sport facility in St James was badly damaged during the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa on October 28.

Lord Coe arrived in Jamaica on Sunday after interrupting his vacation in Turks and Caicos. His trip to Jamaica was scheduled to comprise meetings with various track and field stakeholders to discuss ways in which World Athletics could provide support on the heels of the devastation caused by the hurricane.

Smith told the Jamaica Observer that COCAA representatives had been looking forward to meeting with the global athletics boss.

“We were hoping that we would have had some good news from Lord Coe,” Smith said. “Even if World Athletics could not take on the expense of fixing the facility, then at least make some meaningful assistance and then hopefully the rest could be done by the government or private sector,” he said on Monday.

“It’s full time [that] Government paid some attention to us here in the west as both football and track and field have suffered for a long time, and even if they were to fix the track, we would have a venue to host our championships,” Smith added.

The track at the facility that was laid in 2002 has not been used since 2018 because it fell into disrepair and was deemed ‘dangerous’ for athletes to compete on it.

Lord Coe and members of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) executive as well as representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport had been scheduled to be in Montego Bay after a courtesy visit to the Mayor of Kingston.

Garth Gayle, president of the JAAA, did not provide details why the Montego Bay Sports Complex tour was called off. But Gayle said there were some uncertainties as to who they would meet if they had made the trip to Montego Bay.

The running of the facility has been in limbo since a bid by the Montego Bay Multi Sports Development Limited, the umbrella company under which Premier League club Montego Bay United operates, was tendered in November 2024.

There has been no response to the bid since then, 14 months after it was the only response to the offer put out by the St James Municipal Council, operators of the facilities.

SMITH… it’s full time [that] Government paid some attention to us here in the west

Garth Gayle, Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) president (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe arrives in Jamaica on Sunday, January 4, 2025. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)