Countries miss deadline to submit Carifta teams

HAMILTON: Many of the countries intending to send teams to the CARIFTA Games to be held at the National Sports Centre in April have failed to meet a March 1 deadline for submission of teams. Judith Simmons, president of the Bermuda Track and Field Association, indicated there was some urgency for numbers and squad details to be forwarded ahead of a March 8 agreement between her organisation and host hotel, Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

She noted that the trouble for Caribbean countries, however, is that they do not normally hold CARIFTA qualifying meets before mid to late March. For example, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago all have CARIFTA trials next weekend. Although the Bahamas held a CARIFTA qualifier last weekend, it will use forthcoming high school meets to determine who will represent the country. Steve Edwards, president of the Amateur Athletic Association of Barbados, said that deadlines are not frivolous. “We would expect the organising committee to understand the challenge of us being able to forward our names in advance of our trials,” he said.

Pat Anderson, president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, said he expected his country’s squad — usually the biggest — would be scaled back to 50-odd, rather than the usual 70 to 80 because of the high costs involved in getting to Bermuda. He also revealed his association nearly boycotted the Games because his contingent had been asked to obtain visas at US $50 per person — a request that was eventually waived. In January 2003, the Bermuda Government said Jamaicans would need a visa to enter Bermuda, a policy aimed at cracking down on drug trafficking.