BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PLANS and preparations are on schedule for St. Kitts to host the 13th Biennial Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) Track & Field Championships, the Local Organizing Committee said in a press conference Tuesday (May 11).
The event is scheduled to take place from July 24-25 at the Silver Jubilee Anniversary Stadium and will feature athletes from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Suriname, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis, Martinique, St. Croix, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and possibly St. Thomas.
At Tuesday’s press briefing, updates were given for the preparations in accommodations, sponsorship, technical aspects and ticketing for the games, among other areas.
President of the St. Kitts Teachers Union (SKTU) and LOC Chairman Ron Dublin-Collins stated that all areas are moving ahead on schedule for the games and would be completed in a timely manner before the athletes arrive.
“The whole idea of the Caribbean Union of Teachers Track & Field Championships was birthed out of the need to provide a forum for competition for our younger athletes. We also recognize that sports is one of the vehicles we can use for regional integration,” he said.
Though the exact number of athletes competing is yet to be determined, the CUT Games are expected to rival the locally hosted 2008 Carifta Games in terms of stadium attendance by athletes and their supporters.
Immediate past President of the SKTU and LOC Head for Accommodation Clyde Christopher said that negotiations to house all of the athletes are underway and should be smoothly completed within the next week.
“I believe that the undertaking that we are identifying with is a very valuable and important one. We want to make sure that the experience of these athletes is a memorable one, so we are currently still negotiating and looking at the best ways of accommodating our athletes,” Christopher stated.
In terms of the athletes’ preparations, Team Manager Anthony Wiltshire disclosed that the twice a week training sessions with the 79 selected athletes have been going extremely well and he expects St. Kitts to put on its best performance to date.
St. Kitts has participated in the CUT Games since 1988 and hosted the games once prior in 1994. When the games were last held in Basseterre, St. Kitts recorded its best finish to date, coming in third overall. However, improvement has been continual over the years and St. Kitts was able to secure a fourth place finish overall in 1998 in St. Vincent with only nine athletes.
This year, a full squad of 40 athletes will be selected from the 79 trainees and Wiltshire said that he fully expects the national team to be “exceptional this time around”.
To date, the games have already drawn substantial sponsorship from LIME, Beaumont Park, Island Purified Water and TDC/Western Union, and LOC Head of Sponsorship Carlene Henry-Morton said that she expects many more businesses to come onboard before July.
Ticket prices for the games were also released to the public at Tuesday’s press conference. LOC member Iston Williams disclosed that the morning sessions of each day would be entirely free to the public and the afternoon sessions would be priced at EC $25 for the Kim Collins Pavilion, EC $15 for the northern stands, EC $10 for adults on the grounds and EC $5 for children on the grounds.
A large number of fans from throughout the region are expected to attend the games and locals were asked to get their tickets as early as possible.
Williams noted that the LOC is considering having an additional opening session of the games on Friday, July 23 that would be free as well. Tickets for the afternoon sessions are expected to go on sale from the 23rd.
