The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE nation’s second city will host the second edition of the New Life Invitational on May 13 4pm to 8pm at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex.

The inaugural event was held in Miramar, Florida in May, 2021 and now it’s being held for the first time in The Bahamas thanks to the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC).

Officials maintain that although there is no official list of the athletes scheduled to attend the invitational as yet, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the sporting event.

Demarius Cash, the special events coordinator, talked about the upcoming track and field event.

“The key thing is to bring these type of meets across into North America to showcase Olympians and upcoming athletes who are vying for this year’s World Championships,” Cash said.

He added that it’s going to be exciting in GB because their track produces some of the fastest times for athletes.

The track invitational is geared towards attracting athletes within the area and outside of it. Officials are looking to bring out the top-24 athletes that are ranked.

For local athletes that are not in the top 24, provisions will be made for them as event organisers will want them involved as well.

Athletes can also look forward to a monetary prize at this year’s invitational.

Mike Sands, president of NACAC, talked about more of the details surrounding May’s event.

“The event is a silver label event that has a $75,000 prize money to it and we will go from first to sixth place and every athlete will be given prize monies but, more importantly, there will be points per world ranking, “Sands said.

With the 2023 Word Athletics World Outdoor Championships set for late August, the New Life Invitational will provide athletes with a chance to qualify for the major sporting event. The event is set to be a track and field extravaganza as Sands said they have already gotten word from four sub-10 second 100m runners, two sub-eleven 100m females, and three sub-forty-five 400m runners.

This year’s event will include the men’s long jump, the women’s triple jump, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and hurdle events.

Despite the excitement surrounding this year’s second edition of the event, Sands noted that hosting this year’s event will cost NACAC $250,000 which also includes the prize money.

“NACAC has a competition budget that we provide support of this event, the fact that we initiated this one is taking a big chunk of our competition budget,” Sands said.

He added that he is hopeful that some of the local sporting organizers will provide sponsorship for the event.

The New Life Invitational in Grand Bahama will be the third event hosted by NACAC for the sporting calendar year.