Gibson-McCook Relays in spotlight
THE 51ST staging of the Pumasponsored Gibson-McCook Relays is on at the National Stadium today with more than 2,500 athletes down to compete.
Action gets under way at 9:30 a.m. with 42 events down to take place. There will be some international flavour as Flying Angels and Brompton Racers out of Canada and Trinidad and Tobago’s top male and female high school teams, Queen’s Royal College and Bishop Anstey, will match strides with local teams.
There will be cash incentives and trophies for top performances. Top high school male and female teams will each receive $100,000, record breakers $75,000 and team with the most outstanding performance will receive the Neville ‘Teddy’ McCook trophy and $150,000.
As usual most attention will be on the high schools. Fans are definitely in for a day of exciting battles among t he respective teams in what is a dress rehearsal for next month’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.
Earlier this week at the Central Athletics Championships at GC Foster College, Hydel High, Edwin Allen High and St Jago High’s girls were involved in some close finishes in the relays and this trend should continue today.
Last year, Edwin Allen failed to win any of the 4x100m relays with success coming only in the 4x400m and 4x800m events. They should do better in the sprint relays this year. Their Class Four team led by Tashana Godfrey and Hydel, led by Texeria Johnson, are set for a hot battle. Both teams have gone sub-49 seconds twice this season with Edwin Allen clocking 48.28 to win ahead of their opponents’ 48.91 in midweek.
St. Jago’s Class Three, led by an outstanding second leg from sprint-hurdler Adora Campbell, had the most impressive performance on the day after clocking 45.58 for a big win. They are the only Class Three team to go sub-46 seconds so far this season.
Hydel, Edwin Allen and St Jago were involved in a blanket finish in Class Two and Hydel won in 45.53 ahead of Edwin Allen 45.56 and St Jago 45.86. The outstanding Theianna-Lee Terrelonge is capable of putting Edwin Allen in front in this event. St Jago are the slight favourites for the Class One girls’4x100m after their win at Central at Central Championships in 46.06.
Edwin Allen will be hard pressed to retain their 4x400m and 4x800m titles. Tonyan Beckford, Kellyann Carr and Natasha Fox will carry the fight in the 4x400m. Hydel, led by Aaliah Baker, Jody Ann Daley and Abigail Campbell, can go all the way here.
The 4x800m is expected to be a match race between Edwin Allen and Holmwood Technical who lost narrowly to their opponents at Milo Western Relays,
The Class One 4x100m will take top billing among the boys. The David Riley-coached Excelsior High will be hoping to make it four straight wins. At the Corporate Area Development meet, they clocked a school record 40.36 to turn back Jamaica College (JC) (40.46).
JC were without their big two, Hector Benjamin and Dontae Watson, and their presence will make a big difference in this event. Calabar, who were third, have also gone sub-41 seconds this season after winning at the Camperdown Classic in 40.69.
Kingston College are expected to dominate in Class Two as they are the only team here to have gone sub-41 seconds with a best time of 40.98. However, the Demarco Bennett-led Excelsior team could surprise here. St Jago with the red-hot Marquies Page are favoured to dominate in Class Three.
Senior athletes will ensure that they are not left out of the spotlight when they contest both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. The men’s 4x100m event is expected to be a cracker as it will involve several athletes who represented Jamaica at last year’s World Championships in Budapest. The top club teams in the two relays are Racers, SprinTec, Legacy, Titans and Dynamic.