Western Champs still a go despite odds
Published:Wednesday | March 10, 2021 | 12:13 AMKavarly Arnold/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Stephen Smith, president of the County of Cornwall Athletics Association, said Western Champs is still on the cards despite the cancellation of last weekend’s second Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association trial meet in the region.
The meet that was scheduled to be held at Herbert Morrison Technical High School was cancelled due to a number of reasons, according to Smith. He noted that the field not being in a condition to host all the events was the main factor.
Smith outlined that while there is still no definite date set for the event, they are in dialogue with stakeholders and are currently looking to stage the meet during the Easter period. The original date was set for March 15-20.
“Western Champs will not be on the date that is suggested. We have been in dialogue with the different bodies and sponsors to see the best possible date. We are looking at March 31 and April 3. We still have some work to do because we have to look at the numbers and information that we have. We would not want to stretch the meet out over two or three days when it can be done in a day or day and a half,” Smith said.
“As for the state of readiness, St Elizabeth Technical High School is the best venue, and in using it over and over, we can only get better in terms of enforcing protocols. We have another meet there this weekend, which will give more chances to fine-tune protocols, because more important than everything else is safety,” he added.
When asked about the current surge in cases, which saw the country recorded some 2,700 new COVID-19 infections in the past four days, Smith told The Gleaner that based on the relatively small number of athletes competing in the western area, there should not be much concern in the region.
“The truth is, it is required for us to have a reduced number of athletes. If we should look at the number of schools in the region that will be participating, we would not have a problem with numbers. We have been doing our best to keep everyone safe so far and as long as we continue to do that we should be fine,” Smith said.