Former JAAA boss still in love with the track

Warren Blake demitted office as president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association in 2020, but he still goes to meets each week. The reason is simple; he loves track and field.

Sometimes ex-presidents disappear when their time in office ends. Asked why he still goes to meets, Dr Blake replied, “Because I love track and field. I might not be president, but my love for track and field is still there.”

He made the admission at the recent JAMALCO Development Meet in Clarendon, whose organisers surprised him with an award for his service to the sport. In his usual subdued tone, Blake commented, “It’s a good feeling to know that your efforts have been recognised.”

His time in office began in 2011, when standing JAAA president Howard Aris died. From then until 2020, Jamaica performed at a high level in international competition at the London and Rio Olympics and at the World Championships in Moscow, Beijing, and Doha with only the 2017 London World Championships as a four-medal low point.

For Blake, the highpoint is not mentioned much. “If you remember, there were factions in track and field when I took over and after the first term, in the second term, we got a number of the people who actually ran against me for the presidency,” he recalled, “and were on other teams, we got them to join our team, and I think this unification of the different factions in track and field will only serve track and field well going forward.”

His last act in office was to draft the COVID-19 protocols that led to a phased return of competition starting in 2020. The resumption started without spectators and when they did return, trained staff helped to keep everyone safe.

“When we started to compete, nobody else in the Caribbean was competing. The entire Caribbean had been shut down and, as a matter of fact, the protocols that we used, I sent them to the other Caribbean leaders and I sent them to NACAC and said, look, we can use protocols like this to get our sport restarted across the region, and in fact, it was used in the NACAC protocols because I would get calls about what was the Jamaican experience and how did we do this,” he recalled of his contacts with colleagues in the North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) athletics federation, “and the whole thing about COVID marshals and COVID liaison officers, where we partnered with the Ministry of Health to train people to supervise the protocols, I think it was a game changer for track and field.”

You might see Blake serving sport in the future.

“I’m still a sportsman at heart, you know. I went to the great institution in Kingston College, where it’s in our DNA, so I don’t rule out my involvement in future sport administration. There are things that can be done in Jamaica. I mean, I’ll still be involved in my pet sport, track and field,” he said.

Then he added, “Your only way of serving does not have to be as a president.”