The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

IT IS not how you start, nor how you get there. Most importantly, it’s how you finish.

• The Finish Line, a weekly column, seeks to comment on the state of affairs in local sports, highlighting the highs and the lows, the thrills and the spills and the successes and failures.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

By just one gold medal, Team Bahamas fell short of finishing second at the 46th Flow Carifta Games in Willemstad, Curacao, over the Easter holiday weekend.

If it wasn’t for one or two occurrences, Team Bahamas could have easily negotiated second place over Trinidad & Tobago, but there was no way that anybody would catch Jamaica.

Highly favoured Tavonte Mott clipped the final of his 10 hurdles in the under-20 boys’ 110 metre final and just as he sprinted to the line, he was edged out by Jamaica.

But the under-18 boys’ 4 x 400m relay team had to compete without Denvaughn Whymns, who suffered a hamstring injury during the 4 x 100m and they fell short of another projected gold with Jamaica not entered after they got disqualified in the preliminaries.

And while the under-20 girls’ division was not as strong as team officials projected, not having strongwoman Serena Brown in attendance made a huge difference. Brown was unable to get her release from the University of Arkansas to compete.

Despite the fact that Team Bahamas was hampered by some of these occurrences, the athletes all gave it their best and ended up producing the second largest collection of medals with a total of 31. It’s unfortunate that positions are decided by gold medals rather than total medals. The Bahamas would have trailed Jamaica, who amassed 86, including 39 gold.

Team Bahamas had some exceptional performances with a number of athletes being highlighted for their accomplishments.

Among the list were Whymns (long jump) and Shaun Miller (high jump) in the under-18 boys’ division, Megan Moss and Doneisha Anderson (400m) and Latia Saunders (javelin) in the under-18 girls, Holland Martin (long jump) andDouvankiylin Rolle (pole vault) in the under-20 boys and Quanisha Marshall (800m) and Daehja Moss (high and long jumps) in the under-20 girls.

And although this was the first time that the top junior regional event was held in Curacao, the island rose to the occasion and hosted what turned out to be three successful days of competition. The focus now switches to the Bahamas when the 47th Flow Carifta Games will be held over the Easter holiday in April next year. During the congress meeting held at the games, it was decided by NACAC, the governing body for the games, that they will revert to the under-17 division for boys and girls rather than keep the under-18 that was contested for the last two years with the under-20.

It will be good and bad for some of the athletes as those who were looking forward to being at the top of their respective events in the under-18 division will now have to look at competing under-20. At the same time, what that means is that those competitors who were still a little too young to compete, will get a chance to do so under the same realignment. The machinery is already in motion as the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations said they are looking forward to getting back to the race for the top spot.

Unfortunately, it’s going to be a tall order to dethrone Jamaica even on our home soil. It seems as if the “Reggae Boyz” just get better and better every year.It’s not going to be easy, but as they say in sports, it ain’t over until it’s over.

THE WEEK AHEAD

This weekend, the third edition of the IAAF World Relays will be held at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium. The event will bring some of the most prominent track stars of today on our home soil for the intense two days of competition on Saturday and Sunday. The United States of America is here loaded with their top competitors as they look forward to defending their two-time Golden Baton award. But the Jamaicans are looking forward to picking up where they left off in Curacao when they continued their dominance of the Carifta Games. The Bahamas, however, will be hard pressed at home with such new young rising stars in Steven Gardiner, the world-leading 400m male this year and Shaunae Miller, the Olympic 400m champion.

IAAF president Lord Sebastian Coe said if there is one thing he can say about the relays is that they are in the right place in the Bahamas, which has hosted the first two editions and has already been confirmed to host the next two in 2019 and 2021.

Coe came to town with the Bahamian athletes from Curacao on the Bahamasair charter early Wednesday morning after a delay because of mechanical problems.

But the former two-time Olympic 1,500m champion for Great Britain said he’s confident that the Bahamas will continue to put on a show, especially with the rhythmic sound of the junkanoo music that he enjoyed at CARIFTA.