Big guns ready for Central Champs challenge

WHEN the two day Central Athletic Championships begin this morning at 9:00 a.m. at the G.C. Foster College, defending male and female champions St. Jago High and Edwin Allen, will be hoping to continue their dominance and defend their $1 million Digicel Grand Prix title.

The meet is the final one in the Grand Prix series  before the finals and follows the Eastern Championships, Western Championships and Corporate Area Development Meet, through which the winners of specific events qualified for the Grand Finale, where they will be joined by the four next best from all the meets in each event.

St Jago head coach Rahnsomn Edwards, who is in his second year at the helm after taking over from Danny Hawthorne, is very optimistic, even if he admitted to having some serious concerns.

"Despite the inclement weather since October affecting our preparation, the team is ready to win another title as we will be coming all out and we also want to qualify as many persons as possible for the Grand Prix final as defending champions. We are very strong in areas like the throws, jumps, hurdles and middle distance and we want to show our dominance in these areas", he said.

Edwards is, however,  concerned with the scheduling of the meet so close to the Gibson McCook Relays.

"I am very disappointed that the organisers have allowed the meet to run so close to Gibson (McCook) Relays because after a hectic two days, the athletes will only have two days to rest and this is too hard on them. This is kind of overworking the athletes and the organisers, in future should take a note of this", said Edwards.

Since winning their first title in 2010, Edwin Allen has never lost here and  head coach Michael Dyke is coming all out for another victory in what should be a very competitive two days, which will see the top five female teams in the country fighting it out for top honours.

"We have a lot to benefit from here as the incentives are great and we are also the defending champions in the Grand Prix series and this is also a good platform going into this weekend's Gibson McCook Relays. Our team is very strong and we want to send a strong message to all pretenders that we are not coming out to play", said a confident Dyke.

The winner of Central Championships on most occasions have gone on to win the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Athletics Championships female title and despite Dyke's tough talking, it should not be a walkover as former champions, Holmwood Technical has looked a real threat this year. With the likes of St. Jago, Hydel and to a lesser extent Vere Technical also shining so far this season, fans are in for two days of spectacular competition in this area. 
 
Today's opening day will see nine finals which will all be contested in field events with the high jump Class Four for girls at 9:00 a.m. being the first to get underway.

TODAY'S FINALS
9:00 a.m: High jump Class Four Girls
9:05 a.m: Triple Jump Class Two Boy'/Discus Class 1 Girl's
10:10 a.m: Long jump Class Three Girls
10:30 a.m: Discus Class One Boys
11:10 a.m: Shot Put Class Two Boys
12:40 p.m: Triple Jump Open Girls/High jump Class One Boys
1:40 p.m: Shot Put Class Two Girls