Canada's Flying Angels add int’l flavour to Anthrick Development Meet

Five years and growing, the Anthrick Sports Management Prep Schools Development Meet is getting bigger, with a team from Canada adding international flavour to the event. And in the organisers' view, Saturday's showpiece will be a mouth-watering curtain-raiser for the Jamaica International Invitational (JII) Meet later that evening.

The meet - scheduled to host more than 40 Prep schools from Jamaica - will also include Flying Angels from Canada. It was launched at the Spanish Court hotel in New Kingston yesterday.

"It is the first that we will have an overseas team coming to a development meet outside of a Gibson McCook Relays and a Milo Western Champs. This is what we were aiming at for a long time now," said Ricky Martin, chairman of the organising committee.

The meet, which was topped by Vaz Prep last year, will be held at the Usain Bolt Track at UWI, Mona, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

University of Technology (UTech) star sprinter Julian Forte, who started at Vaz Prep then moved on to Wolmer's Boys', endorsed the meet.

Encouragement for youngsters

"Continue to work hard," Forte implored the young athletes in attendance. "If you don't achieve it at first ... you can very well develop late in your careers."

Guest speaker Damion Crawford, minister of state in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, showered the event with praises.

"If we didn't have development, then we wouldn't have (Usain) Bolt. He came through a process by which he was developed and you can look for yourself at many other countries that are not performing as we (Jamaica) are performing and see what the difference is in how we approach it (athletics)," he stressed.

Entrance fee is $300 adults, $150 for children under 12. The event will be streamed live on www.reggaetoreggae.com.