JAAA Championships set to be cancelled
Published:Saturday | July 4, 2020 | 12:25 AMAkino Ming/Staff Reporter
Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) president Dr Warren Blake says that the National Senior Championships is only one meeting from being cancelled, as only a small number of athletes have indicated that they would participate if the meet should take place.
Blake told The Gleaner that correspondence from coaches and athletes has suggested that they will not have enough entrants to stage a championships and, as such, the hierarchy of the federation will convene next Wednesday to call off the meet.
“We are having our executive meeting next Wednesday and we will make the final decision, but I have serious doubts now, because I don’t think that we would have enough entrants to have a championships,” Blake said.
Along with protocols to restart the sport, Blake and the JAAA have reached out to a number of athletes and coaches to find out how desirable it would be to host the event this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sprintec Track Club head coach Maurice Wilson told The Gleaner in May that staging the championships this year would not be in the athletes’ best interest.
“The athletes have lost a significant portion of the season where they could earn, and participating in a meet that will not benefit them financially just does not make sense at this time,” Wilson said at the time.
The meet could only be used to select the national champion, as all international athletics competitions have been cancelled for the rest of the year.
The meet was set to be staged on the weekend of August 8 and 9.