Fireworks expected at today’s Gibson McCook Relays - Edwin Allen take aim at world high school record in Class Two 4x100m

LOCAL track and field fans will be in for a treat today as the prestigious Gibson McCook Relays takes the spotlight at the National Stadium. Action begins at 9a.m. with the preliminary rounds of the high school boys 4x400m with the final of this event set to close the show at 9p.m. .

Crowd support has dropped in recent years but the fans are expected to be back in their numbers following a close and competitive season so far among the high school teams. The ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships is just four weeks away and today’s meet will definitely give some hints on where the top titles among both boys and girls will go on the night of Saturday, March 28.

According to chairman of the Gibson McCook Relays Organising Committee, Professor Rainford Wilks, all is set for today’s event. “Everything is in place for today’s staging of the event. All the personnel are in place, including security and officials for another successful staging. In addition to the usual exciting competition among high school teams we are expecting a crack 4x400-metres team from MVP International, featuring World Championships relay silver medallist Akeem Bloomfield and Nathon Allen,” he stated.

There will be incentives for top performers at the meet as there will be cash prize of $100,000 each from Digicel for the best performing high school boys and girls’ teams. Digicel will also give a cash prize of $150,000 and a Trophy named after the late Neville ‘Teddy’ McCook” for the Best Overall performance. In addition there will be $75,000 on offer for teams breaking records in the Championships events.

Something special

Fans could witness something special today as Edwin Allen High’s Class Two girls 4x100m relay team could become the fastest ever high school quartet in the world. Two weeks ago at the Digicel Central Championships, their quartet which included three 15-years-old in twins Tia and Tina Clayton and Serena Cole and one 16-year-old in Brandy Hall clocked 43.80 seconds for the second fastest time ever among female high school teams, just behind the 43.62 clocked by an Edwin Allen quartet at last year’s Penn Relays. Three members of the present team, the Clayton twins and Cole, teamed up with Kevona Davis for the fast time. Davis is now in Class One. The Class two queens should inspire Edwin Allen to several other victories at the meet. They could end with five wins on the day as the Michael Dyke-coached team looks to send a strong message to their Girls Champs rivals. Two events among the boys, the 4x400m and 4x800m open, are expected to go down to the wire. Kingston College are the defending champions in the 4x400m. The 3:10.79 they clocked in winning at the Milo Western Relays is the fastest so far this season. A solid Excelsior team that was second then in 3:11.56 and the likes of Holmwood Technical, Jamaica College and Calabar will make the event an exciting one. After a spectacular leg last year by Calabar’s Kimar Farquharson who made up some 20 metres on anchor to bring his team to victory in the 4x800m in a record time of 7:31.7, another cracker is expected as the defending champions, Kingston College, Edwin Allen, Jamaica College and St Elizabeth Technical should have the fans on their feet for the entire race.

Following their dominance all season, SprinTec will be hoping to again top the colleges, institutions and clubs. Several of the country’s top senior athletes will be in action. Following their epic battle at the Milo Western Relays, SprinTec Lions which won the men’s 4x100m in a record 38.56 over stablemates SprinTec (38.75) and MVP 38.90 are fancied again. In the 4x400m for clubs and institutions, Demish Gay will be hoping that his SprinTec team will be able to get the better of the Akeem Bloomfield- led MVP team as they look to improve on their winning time of 3:06.09 at the Milo Western Relays.