On your marks!

CHIEF STARTER at this year’s Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association’s (JAAA) Senior National Championships, Ludlow Watts, says the organisation will be employing the best starting equipment available for this week’s start at the National Stadium.

The JAAA will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2019 National Championships, when Danielle Williams was disqualified from the women’s 100m hurdles after being judged to have false-started.

After several minutes of Williams’ protests, the race was restarted, but called back after a faulty start, then abandoned.

The JAAA then said because a number of other athletes in the race had been injured after the second attempt to have it run, a panel would rule on the trio to represent Jamaica at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Watts, who is also the JAAA’s treasurer, told The Sunday Gleaner in an interview that the starting equipment that will be in operation at the championships is world rated and therefore they are not anticipating any glitches.

“As has been the case every year, all our starting equipment has been perfect for competition,” said Watts.

“We will be using the equipment that we have had for 20 years and the equipment has been working extremely well, and we have never had any issues of any sort to do with any of our equipment,” he said.

“I can’t plan for anything, expecting hiccups. But what you do is that you put all the preparations in place and from there you expect to have good results,” Watts said.

TRAINED PERSONNEL

He pointed out that only trained JAAA personnel will be employed to operate starting equipment during the four-day event.

“The officials are fully prepared and they are well trained for the event, and the athletes are very much prepared and trained for the championships,” Watts said.

Paul Francis, head coach of the University of the Technology track club, said the JAAA’s starting equipment is of the highest standard, but it must be operated by qualified individuals who are properly trained to do so.

“The equipment itself is world class, but what is really lacking is proper usage of the equipment that is available,” said Francis.

“Whether or not it is the lack of practice, lack of training or constant usage applying the training method that has been received, but the equipment itself is excellent and we just need to concentrate on getting it done properly,” he said.

Francis added: “Utilising the things that can be done with the equipment, we can capture reaction times, we can show photographs of the athletes at the finish, things that would make them more transparent so that the sport can remain credible in the eyes of the spectators and the athletes who are competing.”

Bertland Cameron, coach of Cameron Blazers track club, also agrees with Francis, and he noted that the JAAA must do all it can to ensure that the equipment is properly used throughout the championships.

“I am confident that the equipment that they are using is good and it is up to them to use it correctly and make decisions when decisions need to be taken all the time,” Cameron said.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com