PRESIDENT of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, welcomes the rescheduling of the CARIFTA Games that is scheduled for Bermuda, which he believes will allow the member associations to be more better prepared for the new August 13-15 date.

“The Athletics Association of Guyana was running with a little bit of concern in the July 2-4 date. Again, the date change came directly as a result of CXC announcing their dates for their examinations and had NACAC held fast to the July date then the Championships would have been coming in the middle of CXC, knowing fully well that most of our athletes of that age will be either preparing or writing those exams.”

The AAG was moving apace to have their athletes ready for the previous date of July 2-4 for the 49th edition of the Championships. But several days ago the North, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) received word that the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) announced their examination period which will run from June 14 to July 16.
Hutson said, “The decision was taken by NACAC with support from the member federations to push the date back to August. The only complications for athletes in this part of the world, attending CARIFTA Games is that the World Junior Championship in Nairobi, Kenya falls one week after.

So the whole logistics of moving athletes from the CARIFTA Games to Nairobi will have to be worked out or we make a decision that the qualifiers for the world junior championship may not necessarily attend CARIFTA Games.”

“I guess those are the little parameters that we have to work on but all in all it’s a great decision. And the more time is given to the local organising committee in Bermuda, it’s better for them because they have a chance to plan more.

It will give them a better opportunity to make decisions and vaccinations. It will give them a little more time to decide whether we can they can have fans in the stands or not. With the COVID-19 pandemic showing signs of being on the decline due to vaccination, we think a little more time will always auger well for the sport,” stated the AAG Boss.

This will be Bermuda’s third opportunity to host the prestigious event after their initial run in 1975 and the second in 1980.

More than 600 athletes and officials from 27 Caribbean islands will arrive in Bermuda for the Games, one of the most popular junior athletics events in the region. The pandemic has also caused numerous athletes from around the region to miss out on their final year for competing at the games.

That meant a new qualifying deadline will be set for three weeks before the Games for those who still have not reached qualifying standards or athletes who are to be replaced because of a breach in age. However, athletes who qualified for the 2020 Games will not have to qualify again in the same age group.