The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MOSCOW, Russia — With the 14th IAAF Worlds over and done with, the focus now switches to the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ hosting of the inaugural IAAF World Relays next year.

According to team manager Ralf McKinney, looking at the performances over the past nine days of competition, the Bahamas should stack up very well when it hosts the two-day meet at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium May 24-25.

“We need to look at the NCAA schedule and see who in college will be available to compete,” McKinney said.

From the men’s 4 x 100 metre relay team that established a national record in their bid to qualify for the final, McKinney said only Shavez Hart is still eligible for college next year and with the women’s 4 x 100m relay, Shaunae Miller is the only member who is still obligated to school, although she is now competing as a professional.

The only other collegiate athlete is O’Jay Ferguson, who ran on the men’s 4 x 400 relay team. None of the members of the women’s 4 x 400 relay are still in school.

“We still have some other athletes who are currently in school and could be eligible to make our team,” McKiney said.

Technical director Frank ‘Pancho’ Rahming said one of the things that the BAAA will have to do is to ensure that all of the athletes are properly prepared to compete prior to the start of the championships.

“If you noticed, this team had the majority of young athletes with one or two first timers,” he said. “I think since they saw what has happened, looking at the results and what they are capable of doing, they have to make sure that they are prepared.

“I don’t know what the BAAA will do to help in their preparation, but they have to be ready. They can’t come home and just try to get ready. They have to try and find the meets for them to compete in so that they can be ready.”

Rahming said the BAAA will have to do its part to get the teams to compete in meets as they usually do like the Penn Relays in April in Philadelphia, but he noted that there are other meets in the region that the Bahamas should be able to take advantage of to keep the athletes fit and sharp.

“As for the collegiate athletes, we’re not sure how many of them we can rely on because they have to compete for their schools and so we will have to see if the schools will allow them to come home and compete because they are obligated to their colleges if they are on scholarships.”

In preparation for the World Relays, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson said that his ministry, along with the National Sports Authority and the BAAA, assembled a team of consultants who were on the ground making the necessary assessments at the World Championships to ensure that they are ready to welcome the world next year.

Johnson, accompanied by Timothy Munnings, the director of sports, said they stopped in London prior to arriving here to meet with some of the organisers of next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

He noted that he was pleased to be in Moscow where he got to watch the transformation of the athletes in keeping with their theme from the 40th anniversary of Independence - Bridging the Gap.

“This is the most interesting time for our country,” he said. “40 years there’s been a bridge - past, present and future, but the journey continues. What you’ve seen here is the transformation of that bridge.

“There are people here who are competing in their last World Championships and there are people who are competing in their first World Championships. We have some of our seasoned athletes or big names who are injured and were not able to compete and now we have a group of 90 per cent of the team who are having their coming out party.

“They don’t have to win, but they can get to see what it feels like to be on this stage because their stage will be in Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games, so they will go back to rebuild and commit themselves to getting ready for the challenge that lays ahead.”

With the World Relays on the horizon, Johnson said the Bahamas government will provide an incentive for any country that can come next year and upstage any of the relay teams out of the region. He said he’s confident that based on what he saw from the Caribbean countries, led by Jamaica, that it will be hard for any of the countries on the other side of the world to beat them.

As for the preparation of the TAR Stadium, Johnson said once the assessment team meets, they will outline all that will need to be done, including the surface of the track, to ensure that the Bahamas is ready to host the world.

The IAAF, which is sponsoring the meet to the tone of $1.4 million, is expected in the Bahamas again at the end of September to make their further assessment on the preparation for the meet.