SOME 16 students from Queen’s College and 18 students from Tutorial High School are currently in training to attend the upcoming annual Barbados Relay Fair, which is expected to be held on Saturday at the Barbados National Stadium, Waterford, St Michael, Barbados.The Queen’s College athletes are five girls and 11 boys, while for Tutorial High 11 girls and six boys will attend. However, the two local schools will not be coming up against each other at the event as both will be taking athletes in different age categories.

QC will be participating in the Under-17 and Under-20, while Tutorial will focus on the younger age groups, fielding Under-13 and Under-15 teams in track and one Under-17 field athlete.
QC will be participating in the Girls Under-20 category only. The team comprises Yonessa Fredericks, Gabrielle Cave, Kara Abrahams, Virilyn Gibson, and Isoke Britton.
The team consists of mainly newcomers, with Fredericks the only returning athlete. The girls will be participating in the 4×100, 4x400m and sprint medley.
For the boys, the returning athletes are Malcolm Wills and Shemar Britton. This year will mark Wills’ third time representing his school at the event, as he first attended with the team in 2010, and returned with the 2011 team. For Britton, one of Guyana’s national table tennis players, this will be his second time.
The QC boys will be participating in both the Under-20 and Under-17 categories. Wills is a part of the Under-20 team, while Britton is in the Under-17 side. The other Under-20 athletes are Delroy Austin, Patrick Huntley, Ryan Narine and Damani Thomas while the Under-17 team has Clarence Baird, Jamal Sampson, Terron Alleyne, Nicolas Stoonar and Germaine Kendall.
The QC team have been in training for just over three months, training six days a week, divided up into two days of gym exercise, three days of track practice and one day competition run. Training was done under the watchful eyes of Performance Enhancement specialist Neil Barry, as well as personal trainer and head coach for the team, Asim Victor. Barry and Victor will be travelling along with the team while two teachers from the school are also expected to accompany them.
Speaking with Barry recently, he shared that prospects for the team’s performance at the event are high to moderate.
“Training has been progressing well, it could have been better if there was more consistent support from the school in terms of sending school personnel, and sending water and electrolytes for the athletes when they are training, but expectations are high to moderate. High for the Boys Under-17 team, high for them because that is the team that has shown the most consistently good performances over the past few months,” Barry explained.
“Obviously the Girls team is very limited. We were hoping we could have taken more athletes, but the team we have they are a hardworking group so a lot is expected from them.”
For Tutorial High things are being orchestrated by the school’s Sports Administrator, Andel Bethune, who will be travelling with the team, along with Physical Education teacher, Kirk Moses, and female teacher Bonita Jackman. Additionally a number of parents of the athletes are expected to accompany their children.
The school will be fielding a Girls Under-13 team comprising Shauntel Venture, Coleen Hurst, Shaneka Cummings, and Rianna Thomas. There will also be an Under-15 Girls team and an U-15 Boys team. The girls are Tamara and Tia Henry, Cassie Small, Roshana Haynes, Izeebe Walcott, and Shelunda Sankar. The boys are Zion Gray, Osapho Greene, David Coates, Daniel Melville, Ashnead Nedd and Tunanie Whitney. Additionally Keziah Austin is expected to take part in the field event, throwing the shot put and discus in the Girls Under-17 category.
With the exception of Melville, the Tutorial team is comprised mainly of first-timers. According to Bethune, the athletes have been in training since before last year’s hosting of the National schools track and field competition. They train three days a week with the assistance of National coach Lyndon Wilson.
Bethune described his team’s preparation as satisfactory.
“We have had them training since before the school nationals and it’s not bad. We’re satisfied with the work that has been put in. We’re expecting them to place at least third, but one of the problems we have is that the races are finals by time, so that is a challenge, because remember if there isn’t anyone there to challenge them in the race they won’t really run as fast. But they understand what is ‘finals by times’, and we’re working on their timings.” Bethune said.
Noting the young age of the athletes, Bethune pointed out that other than medals another big gain they are hopeful to get from attending the event is exposure for the athletes.
The Tutorial team will leave on Friday, February 13, and return Monday, February 16. Tutorial High had been attending the event for a number of years, having first attended in 2012. However neither QC nor Tutorial attended the annual event last year.

(By Tamica Garnett)