Drug tests for Sagicor athletes

This announcement was made by NAAA third vice president Ephrim Serrette at yesterday’s launch of the meeting at the Sagicor headquarters in Port-of-Spain.

Serrette, a former top national sprinter, said athletes for too long have been performing at high standards with performance enhancement drugs.

"And when they are called to other top games, they cannot meet the standard," he said.

He expressed the view that the association wanted to introduce the drug testing measures for some time, but financial constraints have prevented them from doing so.

Serrette said it will cost the NAAA about US$4,000 to test just one person and apply the measure to all the athletes would have amount to an astronomical figure.

He made it clear that testing will be done on all athletes at all levels, including juniors and seniors.

The Junior Games will take place at the weekend while competition for the seniors will be on the following weekend — both at the newly certified Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

So athletes competing at the Games are eligible to have record times recorded and recognised internationally.

Only recently Ken Doldron, the NAAA president expressed his disatisfaction at not having the Hasely Crawford Stadium certified for international records, saying that it prevented record breaking performances from being established..

The certification of the Hasely Crawford Stadium now comes on the heels of the the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, which was upgraded and certified for the recent CARIFTA Games over the Easter weekend.

Sagicor’s General Manager Allana Cabral yesterday said the Games are expected to be the most exciting in its history.

He noted that the performances of the country’s local and overseas athletes have been reflecting a re-emergence of the glory days in track and field in Trinidad and Tobago.

Cabral pointed out that only recently Marc Burns broke his own personal record in the United States running in the National Collegiate Amateur Association (NCAA), while Kelly-Ann Baptiste also set two new records recently in the 100 and 200 metres sprints.

He said further that Melissa Deleon, who also goes to school in the USA has also set a new record in the 800 metres event and Ato Modibo has bettered his performances over the years, when he met the "A" standard qualifying requirements for the coming World Championship Games.

Cabral made it clear that all this country’s top athletes will be back for the games, some of whom include World Junior Champion Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Niconner Alexander, Ato Modibo, Melissa Deleon, Kelly Ann Baptiste and Fana Ashby among many others.

Cabral said further that apart from our international athletes, there will also be a few who were born in the United States of Trinidadian parentage, and will be taking part in the big meet.

The Sagicor official pointed out that English-born Marc Findlay who only recently completed a two-year ban for his use of performance enhancement drugs a couple years ago, has also been invited to take part in the Games.

However NAAA officials have had to defend his invitation after it was revealed that athletes who are banned in a specific country are usually prevented from representing that country, even when their punishment is up.

Findlay has stated his intention to represent Trinidad and Tobago for some time, and officials have said that he will be given the opportunity to show his ability. Serrette made it clear that once the 27-year-old sprinter can prove his worth among the likes of Brown, Burns and the others at the Games, he will be given a place on the TT team.

Athletes will also have a chance to earn selection on the national teams for many upcoming international games, including the World Championships.

At the Sagicor Games all athletes and fans will stand to benefit from cash incentives as Cabral revealed his company’s intentions of giving $5,000 to the athlete that breaks a record — but only at the Senior Championships.

Fans on the other hand only have to select the winners of the 100 metres and 400 metres on the opening day to receive $500 and an additional $500 for selecting the winners of the 200 metres and the 800 metres on the last day.

Sagicor have also contributed $150,000 into the staging of the event with $50,000 for each year.