Grenada host CARIFTA Games 2005

GRENADA won the bid this past weekend to stage the 34th CARIFTA Games in 2005.

The country’s bid was unanimously approved at the 32nd CARIFTA Games Congress on Sunday and the event will return to the Spice Isle for the second time in five years. They hosted the 2000 Games and remain the only country from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) ever to stage the premier regional track and field event for juniors. “We feel very honoured to be awarded the Games in 2005, and I can assure you, it will be a big success,” Grenada Athletics Association (GAA) Secretary Conrad Francis told CMC Sport yesterday morning.

The Grenada 2005 bid was fully endorsed by the Government of Grenada, and Francis added that the GAA is ready and capable of staging another successful meet. “Grenada is a country with a history of hosting big games. People may not know of that but we’ve been hosting the Whitsuntide Games, a regional meet, since the 1950s. “We have a number of resources that we can call upon to assist us and we are just elated that the Games have been awarded to us,” Francis said. Bermuda will stage the 2004 Games.

The Grenadians are a rising force in regional track and field with top-four medal-table finishes for the past three years. They finished fourth in 2000 with 18 medals, second in 2001 with 17 medals, and copped an all-time best 22 medals to place third in the Bahamas last year. The current track and field thrust is being facilitated by Government’s support and complemented, Francis said, by the country being awarded international meets. “That’s why they (Government) built a stadium, and they have mandated our federation to seek, go out to international bodies and try to win bids to host games,” Francis said. The GAA is also preparing to host the 2003 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Senior Track & Field Championship, with over 300 competitors entered for the July 4-6 meet.