Edwin Allen hunt seventh-straight
EDWIN Allen High School will start the defence of their girls’ title when the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Gracekennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships gets under way today at the National Stadium at 9:00 am.
Sixty-eight girls’ teams with 464 athletes, by far the fewest-ever for the event in decades, will be going after points in the latest Champs to be held, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic which caused uncertainties and stoppages to the season after last year’s event was cancelled outright, two weeks before it was set to go.
Not counting last year’s cancelled championships, the Michael Dyketrained team will be going after a seventh-straight hold on the title and eighth in nine stagings, but will be wary of the threat from Hydel High, who fell short by a scant seven points in 2019 with former champions St Jago High and Holmwood Technical also expected to play their parts.
With the Government giving the go-ahead for the event only in the last six weeks or so, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the top coaches all said their preparations had been hampered to varying degrees, and some were still unsure what to expect.
While they may disagree on many things, the top coaches all agree that this year with the spectre of the novel coronavirus pandemic hanging over everything, the chance to participate in Champs took greater precedence than trying to win.
In an interview earlier this week, Dyke, who was busy making last-minute preparations for the trip with his team from Frankfield to Kingston, said for the first time in many years, he had not given any thought to a points total that they would be aiming for.
Keilando Goburn, head coach of the of St Jago High girls’ team, told the Jamaica Observer, “We are just grateful for the opportunity, right now it is opportunity over outcome, in terms of being contenders. We don’t know, as there have been so many variables this year; the dynamics have changed and right now we are just happy that the students will get an opportunity to compete as they did not get one last year, and half a loaf is still better than none.”
Corey Bennett of Hydel High said, “Just being able to compete is what is truly important for us this year,” a sentiment echoed by Holmwood Technical’s Dave Anderson: “I am very happy that Champs will be held.”
With all being said and done, however, it is Dyke’s 59-strong army that is expected to march away with the most points and the trophy come Saturday afternoon, and he agreed. “Barring any unforeseen mishaps or serious injuries, we should win.
“Based on what we saw coming from the qualification series, we think we have what it takes to defend our title; we will be well-represented in all areas in all the classes.”
Dyke said, while he can’t see any perceived “weaknesses”, he thinks his middle-distance and field events athletes will give them the edge.
Like all the other programmes, Edwin Allen’s preparations were affected by the stop-and-start nature of the season and the suspension of training, as ordered by the Government. “We started in late October but we were not able to train continuously due to the protocols, and the stopping and starting has also caused some injuries as well,” he said.
Goburn said his preparation was “a roller coaster ride; this year is far from what we are accustomed to.
“Basically everyone had a challenge trying to adopt to the new normals. We had to have several sessions to decrease the numbers that could be in one place at any time; parents were tentative in sending out their children.”
He added: “There were a lot of conspiracy theories going around and nobody knew what the truths were, so we had to deal with all of that, but it was tough this year, preparation was tough and some of the children didn’t start preparing until January, some February, and some started coming out after the JAAA Qualifying series started, so preparation was not the best.”
He said the all-round strength of his team was what they were depending on. “No one area is dominant as none got the opportunity to prepare fully, and as a result we are expecting every area to try to pull their weight or hold their own. It’s championships; there are thrills and spills, some will rise and some will fall, and we are hoping more will rise than more will fall.”
Despite the suddenness of the cancellation of Champs last year and the effect it had on his girls, the expectation for this week, he said, was that St Jago could be expected “to give a good account of ourselves. We are still deflated from the cancellation from