BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - As the top local track and field stars take to the Silver Jubilee Stadium on Sunday (Jun. 22) for the 2014 National Invitational and Club Championships, the question on everybody’s lips is: “Will veteran sprinter Kim Collins make an appearance in an attempt to rekindle St. Kitts and Nevis career on the international stage?”
Collins was not allowed to compete at the London Olympics in 2012 after he allegedly went missing for a number of days while visiting a hotel in which his wife was staying.
Consequently, he vowed to never again represent the country of his birth.
In a BBC interview earlier this year, Collins stated that his fans had persuaded him to have a change of heart and was hoping to be a part of the Federation’s Commonwealth team to travel to Glasgow later this year.
In a recent radio interview, Public Relations Officer of the St. Kitts-Nevis Amateur Athletic Association (SKNAAA), Evris Huggins disclosed that an exclusive invitation was given to Collins, the only athlete to receive such a luxury.
However, in an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, Huggins reminded that athletes interested in forming part of any national representative team must compete at the Nationals on Sunday.
“All athletes wanting to compete and represent St. Kitts and Nevis at future events have to compete at the Nationals.”
He then went on to outline the purpose of the National Invitational and Club Championships.
“Well, basically, the National Invitational and Club Championships is something that we have annually. It gives all nationals who are eligible for any national representative team the opportunity to compete locally in the most elite setting.
“The objective is for our athletes to compete at their best and we hope that most of the athletes peak around that period so that they can attain whatever qualifying standard there is for the respective regional or international meets. The other objective is to build the friendly rivalry amongst the nine clubs that make up the body of the SKNAAA. The club dubbed the most successful will be the one attaining the most gold medals.”
Huggins then pointed out some of the athletes who have already confirmed participation at the meet.
“Fans can look forward to the entire 4x200m team that won silver at the inaugural World Relays. You have Antoine Adams, the defending 100 and 200 National Champion. He is also the record holder of the men's 200 metres. He is the defending CAC champion in the 200 metres.
“You can look forward to seeing Jason Rogers who is currently the number one seeded male in the100m with a time of 10.06 seconds.
We have Lestrod Roland who is a collegiate athlete and also a part of the 4x200m team. We have Alistair Clarke. You can look forward to seeing Olympian Delwayne Delaney. You can look forward to seeing Maricia Pemberton who is the number one seeded female sprinter. You can look forward to the return of Meritzer Williams who is the 200m Junior National Record holder and the only World Junior medallist. She was the 200m silver medallist in 2008. We are looking forward for her to come back home to compete.”
He also highlighted some of the regional and international meets for which an athlete can qualify.
“You have the CAC ‘A’ and ‘B’ Junior Championships in Mexico. You have the World Junior Championships which is going to be held in Eugene, Oregon. You have the Commonwealth Games to be held in Scotland and the NACAC U-23 Championships to be held in Canada.”
Last year the National Invitational and Club Championships saw the greatest performance at the Silver Jubilee Stadium in the 100m when Antoine Adams and Jason Rogers wowed the crowd as they both clocked 10:00 seconds flat in the 100m Men’s Senior (open) ahead of Brijesh Lawrence, Allistar Clarke and Delwayne Delaney. In what was certainly the most exciting race of the day, the athletes had to be separated by the third decimal point.
