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CARIFTA... was it worth the effort?
On the sporting edge
Paul Reid
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Jamaica's junior track and field representatives once again reminded the rest of the region who's boss after amassing a massive 67 medals - more than the next three teams combined- at the fourth day of the 38th CARIFTA track and field Championships in St Lucia.
The 67 medals, which were not even the top three in terms of total ever won by the Jamaicans, included 39 gold medals, easily better than all of the nine other teams that won a gold medal.
This was not even Jamaica's best team available as a number of the top athletes pulled out days before the team left after a gruelling Boys' and Girls' Champs the previous weekend.
Had the likes of Dexter Lee, Akino Ming and Sandrae Farquharson made the trip, who knows the medal haul would have been decidedly better and more records would have fallen.
I have asked the question here in the past and after what we saw over the past two weekends it bears repeating:
What exactly is the purpose of the CARIFTA Games to Jamaica and the overall development of the junior track programme?
If it is going to CARIFTA every year to win 70-odd medals and break 10 records then by all means, send the very best we have to pummel the other Caribbean teams.
If however we are serious about development then surely there must be another way to look at how we select our teams.
For example what did IAAF World Youth 200m champion Ramone McKenzie and many-time CARIFTA champion and 10-time gold medal winner Natoya Goule have to gain from going to St Lucia?
What exactly did IAAF World Youth and World Junior medalists Nickel Ashmeade stand to to gain from the trip?
McKenzie suffered a cramp on the anchor leg of the Calabar High School 4x400m relay team at Champs after a busy Champs schedule and was barely able to complete the race.
Goule has had a busy past few months, leading Jamaica at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Florida, returning home to win double gold at Champs before going on to St Lucia where she won two more individual golds.
Ashmeade did not look fully recovered from a broken hand at Champs and could have rested last weekend as well.
All three athletes will no doubt lead their respective teams at the Penn Relays coming up next weekend in Philadelphia and one wonders if the thinking that went into Lee's withdrawal could not have been applied in their cases.
It was understood that while Lee had fully recovered from the cramp he felt while winning the Boys Class One 100m at Champs, the thought was to allow him to heal fully, rather than risk running him so soon afterwards.
The CARIFTA team was selected before Champs but I am sure that like the rest of us who watched the meet, the selector must have seen the youngsters going down right left and centre.
If the long-term health of the youngsters are the main priority, I am sure the thought process should be to dig into our very deep pool of resources and find replacements.
No doubt our second-tier runners would have been just as competitive in most of the events in St Lucia and these athletes would have no doubt been given the stimulus to try harder next year to earn a spot for themselves.
On the sporting edge
Paul Reid
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Jamaica's junior track and field representatives once again reminded the rest of the region who's boss after amassing a massive 67 medals - more than the next three teams combined- at the fourth day of the 38th CARIFTA track and field Championships in St Lucia.
The 67 medals, which were not even the top three in terms of total ever won by the Jamaicans, included 39 gold medals, easily better than all of the nine other teams that won a gold medal.
This was not even Jamaica's best team available as a number of the top athletes pulled out days before the team left after a gruelling Boys' and Girls' Champs the previous weekend.
Had the likes of Dexter Lee, Akino Ming and Sandrae Farquharson made the trip, who knows the medal haul would have been decidedly better and more records would have fallen.
I have asked the question here in the past and after what we saw over the past two weekends it bears repeating:
What exactly is the purpose of the CARIFTA Games to Jamaica and the overall development of the junior track programme?
If it is going to CARIFTA every year to win 70-odd medals and break 10 records then by all means, send the very best we have to pummel the other Caribbean teams.
If however we are serious about development then surely there must be another way to look at how we select our teams.
For example what did IAAF World Youth 200m champion Ramone McKenzie and many-time CARIFTA champion and 10-time gold medal winner Natoya Goule have to gain from going to St Lucia?
What exactly did IAAF World Youth and World Junior medalists Nickel Ashmeade stand to to gain from the trip?
McKenzie suffered a cramp on the anchor leg of the Calabar High School 4x400m relay team at Champs after a busy Champs schedule and was barely able to complete the race.
Goule has had a busy past few months, leading Jamaica at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Florida, returning home to win double gold at Champs before going on to St Lucia where she won two more individual golds.
Ashmeade did not look fully recovered from a broken hand at Champs and could have rested last weekend as well.
All three athletes will no doubt lead their respective teams at the Penn Relays coming up next weekend in Philadelphia and one wonders if the thinking that went into Lee's withdrawal could not have been applied in their cases.
It was understood that while Lee had fully recovered from the cramp he felt while winning the Boys Class One 100m at Champs, the thought was to allow him to heal fully, rather than risk running him so soon afterwards.
The CARIFTA team was selected before Champs but I am sure that like the rest of us who watched the meet, the selector must have seen the youngsters going down right left and centre.
If the long-term health of the youngsters are the main priority, I am sure the thought process should be to dig into our very deep pool of resources and find replacements.
No doubt our second-tier runners would have been just as competitive in most of the events in St Lucia and these athletes would have no doubt been given the stimulus to try harder next year to earn a spot for themselves.
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