The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH their regular club meets being called off because of the rise in cases in COVID-19, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations has had to resort to staging a series of time trials or ‘All-Comers’ meets at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

With two limited meets already under their belt, the BAAA will stage its first full blown All-Comers Meet on Saturday, starting at 9am. The series is designed to get athletes prepared for the return of the CARIFTA Games in Kingston, Jamaica, over the Easter holiday weekend.

One of the organisers of the All-Comers Meet said on Saturday they will feature all of the disciplines, but only for athletes from the 13-and-under division to open.

However, it was noted that only athletes and officials will be allowed into the stadium. “We are expecting some great performances as we contest all of the events,” the official said, asking to remain anonymous.

“This meet will be fully automated as the BAAA will be using this as a trial for CARIFTA.”

While the previous two series of meets also served as a qualifier for the CARIFTA Games, the official said they didn’t have any athletes who attained the standards, but they anticipate that there will be some qualifiers this weekend.

“We have athletes competing in events on the track and for the first time in this series of meets, we will have athletes who will be competing in the field events, especially in the throws,” the officials said. “So we anticipate that there will be some qualifiers from this meet.”

Since the year got started, the official said the BAAA has been forced to postpone all of their club meets during the pandemic, but they have been granted permission to stage the small-scale time trials or All-Comers meets. “The pandemic has had a major impact on the development of the athletes because they have not had the opportunity to compete in the meets that we had scheduled in January,” the official said. “We’ve had to postpone the club meets and just go with the time trials. “This will be the first All-Comers meet where we expect the athletes to all come out and compete. So in compliance with the guidelines from the Ministry of Health, we will stage the meet without any spectators. That is why we are starting from the under- 13 division because we feel they are disciplined enough to compete without their parents in the stands.”

While all of the events will be contested in a bid to get as many athletes as possible a chance to qualify for CARIFTA, the official pointed out that there will be no relay events contested.

The idea is to simply concentrate on the athletes competing in their individual events.

“We’re really excited about this opportunity to engage the athletes in all of the events in one meet,” the official stated.

“This promises to be a very exciting BAAA All- Comers Track Classic this weekend.”

The meet is expected to be concluded around 5pm.