TT men drop relay baton

A DROPPED baton, during the final hand-over between Jacey Harper and Darrel Brown, cost Trinidad and Tobago men’s 4x100-metre relay team victory at the 2004 Whitsuntide Games Area Permit Meet in St George’s, Grenada on Saturday night. Instead, the Netherlands Antilles took gold with a Games record of 39.39 seconds, followed by St Kitts/Nevis (with men’s 100m world champion Kim Collins in their quartet) 39.84 and hosts Grenada 40.95. The Trinidad and Tobago foursome comprised Niconnor Alexander, quadruple Olympic medallist Ato Boldon, Harper and Brown.

But the Trinidadians got some consolation as the women’s 4x100m and men’s 4x400m relay squads were not to be outdone, both clinching gold medals with meet record times. The TT women (Keenan Gibson, Wanda Hutson, Ayanna Hutchinson and Kelli-Ann Baptiste) posted a Games record 44.63 seconds in taking the 4x100m gold, while the 4x400m men featuring Renny Quow, Julieon Raeburn, Simon Pierre and Ato Modibo, clocked three minutes 7.32 seconds, with Grenada second and St Vincent third. Grenadian Alleyne Francique, the world indoor champion, won the men’s 400m convincingly on his home turf. He clocked 44.59 seconds in beating  former world champion Avard Moncur of the Bahamas (46.26 seconds) for a new Games record for the decades-old meet. The crowd of thousands was on their feet as their hero entered the home straight, and it erupted as the 27-year-old crossed the line ahead of the Bahamian.

Less heralded, but perhaps more impressive on the day, was Randy Lewis. Another hometown boy, Randy won the men’s triple jump with the fifth-best legal effort in the world this year. Hopping, stepping and jumping his way to 17.34m, Randy obliterated his former national record, as well as the games and stadium records.  Far behind was Antiguan teenager Ayata Joseph with a 15.89m best performance. In the women’s 100m final, Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson (11.01 seconds) clocked the fastest 100m dash ever at the Grenada National Stadium or at the Whitsuntide Games. She followed that up with the fastest 200m ever at the Games, 22.70, though she was short of Cydonie Mothersill’s stadium-best mark.