BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts and Nevis Amateur Athletics Association’s (SKNAAA) 2011 Calendar contains a packed year for athletes who will be participating in numerous regional and international events.
There will be seven development meets during the year and the first one which was scheduled for Sunday, January 9 has been postponed until the followed Sunday.
Evris Huggins, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the SKNAAA, said the purpose of the development meets is geared at providing a chance for athletes to meet the qualifying times and standards for various regional and international events or championships.
The calendar also reveals that some of the schools would be hosting their annual Sports Day at an earlier date than that of the past, so that their athletes could prepare for the TDC/LIME/Coca-Cola Inter-School Championship and the RAMS Primary School Championship.
“A lot of the schools have re-strategised their whole programme and adjusted it to suit the championships by doing early preparations, so they can prepare the teams in full,” Huggins said.
The Charles E. Mills High School, formerly known as the Sandy Point High School, is the TDC/LIME/Coca-Cola Inter-School champion and will be hosting its Sports Day on February 25.
The National Juniors/CARIFTA Trials will be held at the Silver Jubilee Stadium on March 13 and the Inter-School Championship will be held from March 25 to 27.
The RAMS Primary School Championships will be held from April 1 to 3 while the CARIFTA Games will be held from April 23 to 25.
Huggins said that St. Kitts placed seventh out of 26 countries last year and, according to his records, that was the highest the island has ever ranked at the CARIFTA Games.
“We are hoping to bring home more medals. We have Adrian Williams from Nevis who is the defending Gold medalist in Javelin, and he would actually go back in the same category. We’re hoping that he could repeat his performance from last year and eclipse the record that was set a few years back,” he said.
The Leeward Islands Youth Championships scheduled for May 28-29 will be held in The Valley, Anguilla. This event is for under-15 athletes.
The National Invitational and Club Championships will be held on June 19 at the Silver Jubilee Stadium and promises to be an exciting event. This event, which was dormant for some 10 years and said to have been re-introduced in 2008 as an IAAF recommendation, is aimed at regaining the public’s confidence.
Huggins said that so far they have received positive feedback from their most elite athletes on the island and also from neighbouring islands, adding that they are working on getting more endorsements from businesses to be able to push the meet.
A number of other events will be held in July. They are: the CAC Age Group Championships, which is scheduled for July 1-2 in the BVI; World Youth Championships from July 6 to10 in France; CAC Senior Championships from July 15 to 17 in Puerto Rico; and the Pan Am Juniors in Florida from July 29 to 31.
Although all the events are equally important, the most look forward to by athletes and coaches is the IAAF World Championships scheduled for Daegu, Korea from August 27 to September 4.
“Once persons meet the standards, it’s an opportunity for them to make the team for the IAAF. The SKNAAA has made a team commitment to provide sources available to fund athletes making qualifying standards and also to any of the world championships,” said Huggins.
The Commonwealth Youth Games will be held from September 7 to 11 at Isle of Man while on September 20 there will be a SKN Independence Half Marathon.
The Pan Am Games will be held in Mexico from October 23 to 30 and the Athletic Calendar Year will culminate with the SKNAAA Ordinary General Meeting scheduled for December 3.
