Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Mixed 4x400m added to Jamalco events

Published:Friday | February 3, 2023 | 12:52 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica’s Karayme Bartley on the third leg of the 4x400 metres mixed relay following baton exchange with Roneisha McGregor (right) at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Jamaica’s Karayme Bartley on the third leg of the 4x400 metres mixed relay following baton exchange with Roneisha McGregor (right) at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

A high school mixed 4x400 metres relay has been added to the programme at the long running Jamalco Development meet which is set for Saturday at Halse Hall in Clarendon. Dennis May, the founder of the Jamalco Track Club, hopes its introduction will help to familiarise athletes and coaches with the new relay.

“I always believe that you have to look ahead to what’s happening,” May said on Wednesday, “We have already seen the trend in the world in the mixed 4x400m for the World Championships, for the Olympics, and at the World Relays. So, it’s one way of getting young people mentally prepared for it, if you will, even if you’re not going to run it, but when the time comes, they are used to that type of coordination and that type of combination because that does take a little bit of a mental hurdle.”

Jamaica won a silver medal when the mixed relay was introduced at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, but missed the podium in 2021 at the Olympics and in 2022 at the World Championships.

May thinks that the mixed relay might well appear at other local meets in the future.

“I think it is a useful start and I am certain that at some point in time, when people understand the intention behind the relay, that they will also follow suit,” he envisaged.

The organisers are once again recognising athletes who represented Jamaica in the past. This year’s honorees are Inez Turner, the 1994 Commonwealth 800m champion and the 400m runner who won the World Under 20 gold medal in that same year, Michael McDonald.

At present, head coach at Fayetteville State University in Arkansas, Turner, a 1996 Olympian, once held both the national junior and senior records at 800m, and was the first Jamaican woman to break two minutes. McDonald, national senior champion in 2001, won medals as part of Jamaica’s consistent 4x400m teams in the 1990s.

In addition, past honorees, Seymour Newman, and the late Neville Myton will again be in the spotlight.

“We have a Challenge Cup that is named on their behalf, the Myton-Newman 800m Challenge Cup. What we’re looking for, even though we say it’s open, is Class One and senior level athletes to be there and we’re trying to put together a race that’s worthy of both those men,” May added.

The meet will also witness the first running of the Inez Turner 800m Challenge Cup race, with Turner and 1976 Olympian Newman to present the trophies.

Saturday’s renewal comes after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It has been challenging, I would tell you, a bit different,” May replied to queries about reviving the meet, “but Jamalco has been most accommodating and helpful.”

The MVP Track Club and G C Foster College are down to compete and the high school entry list includes Excelsior High School, the 2022 Corporate Area champions, and a 55-member contingent from nearby Vere Technical.