Crawford, Atherly for Senior Games

HASELY CRAWFORD, the lone Trinidad and Tobago Olympic gold-medallist and San Fernando Mayor Ian Atherly, an ex-cycling sprint champion could well be seen on the tracks again. The Trinidad and Tobago Senior Connection will host the inaugural Senior Games next May 8 and 9 at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex and Hasely Crawford Stadium. This was revealed at a news conference at First Citizens Bank, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain yesterday. And both Mayor Atherly, and Crawford have indicated their  interest in taking part in the games. The TTSC is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles for seniors through education, fitness and sport. Through their programmes, TTSC have organised a committee for the Senior Games headed by Special Olympics director of sport and training David Benjamin.

The games which will include 20 events will be open to citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who are 50 years and over. Benjamin said: “We are hoping to attract over 1500 participants for the games that will include the mainstream sports as well as novel events.” Apart from cricket, football, tennis and athletics, there will also be ballroom dancing, marble pitching as well as top spinning. The organisers are hoping to attract a lot more former national stars to the events to bring it up to a competitive standard. Banjamin added: “In these times when people are 40 years old they say that they are old and cannot play sports again. We are here to prove differently. “We would like seniors to come out and have a weekend of fun at the stadium.”
The organising committee is seeking to realise $500,000 to make the event a reality and are calling on corporate Trinidad and Tobago to sponsor parts of the event. They have also opened an account at First Citizens Bank and any citizen wishing to contribute to the fund can do so at any FCB branch.