Report on the first day of CARIFTA Games

The 2022 CARIFTA Games were supposed to be held in Guyana in 2020, however, when the COVID pandemic caused the suspension of normal activities, the games were canceled. Attempts at rescheduling the event were not successful.

Six months ago Guyana notified the athletic body that they would not be able to host the games, so Jamaica stepped in to make it happen.

According to Garth Gale, president of Jamaica Athletics Association,

“Guyana had certain challenges and could not host. So when you are faced with the dilemma of the games already not being held for two

years in succession, we could not really allow a third year with no games being held. As you can see this is the bridge that connects junior athletes to becoming elite world champions and Olympic champions. I bet that when you check their records in 2024, you will see several of the winners from this competition lining up for several Caribbean countries in the Olympics.”

Gale went on, “we had just about five months to get it done and we did it. We were fresh off of doing the old Mega Champs annual competition last week. So the first thing we did was to get the executive on board,

then the minister of sports jumped on board, then of course we had to find the right person to be the chairman. As fate would have it we found someone with the right leadership [skills, which] helped us tremendously. The chairman is none other than The Honorable Mike Fernell.”

Asked about Jamaica’s athletics expectations in these games, Gale was sanguine about his country’s chances:

“We have always done very well at the games. Coming out of Mega Champs we had some very good sprinters and jumpers. I think the first gold medal this morning in the girls under-17 high jump was won by a Jamaican. [However], the other islands are doing pretty well. There was a boy who won the other under-17 shot put from British Virgin Islands. That’s really a mark of success; then there was the javelin throw winner from Bahamas which broke the CARIFTA record.  Jamaica started throwing about 7 or 8 years ago so I believe that we will have champions in short order.”

On the lighter side, Caribbean Camera asked Gale that if they had to give a medal for music or drama in the stands who would he give it to.

“Boy,” Gale laughed and replied: “it is hard to beat the Jonkanoo band. But I know that there will be some groups from Jamaica that will challenge the Jungkanoo band.”

Wrapping up, Gale was confident that Jamaica’s future generation on display “will be the stars in 4 years and there’s no two ways about it… twins [Tia Clayton and Tina Clayton] …came first and second in a 100-meter dash that featured a great finish. There were records being broken, and the competition was stiff, although Jamaica had a strong edge in performances.

“Prime Minister Andrew Holness was on hand to officially open the event along with Minister Grange. Members from other prominent athletic organizations from across the Caribbean and around the world are here. So it’s shaping up to be an exciting day for more of the same.”

Some first day results:

• The Girls Under-17 High Jump was won by Jamaican Danielle Noble who jumped 1.73m. 2nd place went to Tenique Vincent of Trinidad and Tobago at 1.65m, and third to Jah’kyla Morton of the British Virgin Islands
• Boys 17-19 Javelin saw Bahamas born Keyshawn Strachan break the old CARIFTA record of 64.51m with a throw of 79.89m. Anthony Diaz of Trinidad and Tobago was next at 63.69m, while Cameron Thomas of Grenada took third place. In the Girls Under – 17 100-meter dash, Adaejah Hodge of British Virgin Islands grabbed gold in 11.54.  Jamaican Theianna Lee  Terrelonge was second and Trinidad and Tobago’s  Alexxe Henry  was third.
• The Girls Under-17 400-meter gold went to Abigail Campbell of Jamaica, Narissa McPherson of Guyana, and Quana Walker of Jamaica took silver and bronze respectively. In the Boys Under-17 400-meters, the Jamaican powerhouse duo, Marchino Rose and Tajh-Marques White, took gold and silver.  Kaiyin Morris picked up the final podium spot for Trinidad and Tobago.
• In the Boys 17-19 400-meter run, Delano Kennedy and Shemar Palmer of Jamaica were followed by Saint Vincent’s Amal Glasgow. While in the Girls 17-19 100-meter dash, the Jamaican twins Tina and Tia Clayton finish first and second. Trinidad’s Shaniqua Bascombe came third. Again Jamaica dominated in the Boys 17-19 100-meter dash with DeAndre Daley winning in 10.23, Bouwahjgie Nkrumie of Jamaica came second while Zachary Evans of the Bahamas slipped into the final spot.

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”69″ display=”basic_thumbnail”]

  CARIFTA Games