… AAG welcomes decision

THE North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) has officially pulled the plug on the 49th edition of the CARIFTA Games – the largest youth Track and Field Championships in the Caribbean.
The 49th edition of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Games would have been held April 10-13 in Bermuda, but, due to the Caribbean, like the rest of the world battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers had to move the event to 2021; the same year that was designated for Guyana to host one of the most prestigious youth track and field events in the world.
This was Bermuda’s third opportunity to host the prestigious event after their initial run in 1975 and the second in 1980.
Having been forced to postpone the games twice, NACAC, in a letter to its members on Monday evening, said they understand the impact that another cancellation of their premier annual junior competition will have on their young athletes.

“Unfortunately, we have carefully taken all factors into consideration and are left with no option but to cancel the CARIFTA Games 2021,” NACAC said in the letter, sent by their General Secretary, Keith Joseph.
The games were scheduled to be hosted in Bermuda in August, but according to NACAC, the Bermudan authorities have made it clear that the 14-day mandatory quarantine for athletes is not negotiable.
“While Bermuda allows athletes from 16 years old to be vaccinated, the majority of our CARIFTA family members are from countries where the authorities only allow vaccination for persons 18-years and older. We cannot host the event without the Under-17s who, from our vantage point, are as integral to the event as the U-20s,” Joseph stated. NACAC, while understanding the changing circumstances and attendant protocols in Bermuda, necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is also cognizant that accommodation agreements made thus far have been well below the required number of rooms for the traditional CARIFTA Games and that is unlikely to change.

Meanwhile, president of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, had told NCN Sport yesterday in an interview, that though he’s sorry it had to come to this position taken by NACAC, it’s something he agrees with.
“I think taking everything into consideration, to pull off the games with young athletes; athletes who vaccination hasn’t been released for as yet, to have all of them vaccinated in time would’ve been very, very difficult,” Hutson said.
Asked about the future of the country’s top junior athletes who were looking forward to matching their skills with others from the Caribbean, Hutson stated, “We still have South American Youth, we still have South American Juniors, so we on this side still have some competition to go to, but it will work out a little more expensive. We still have Pan Am Youth Games and there’s the World Juniors in Nairobi, Kenya.”

The AAG president asked athletes to not be too disappointed and encouraged them to “keep training, keep doing their work and we will ensure that they have the prerequisite number of competitions to qualify to get to the higher-staged meets.”
Initially, Guyana was earmarked to host the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games this year, but after last year’s postponement, it meant the 49th staging of the games would have to be held in 2021.
However, taking this year’s cancellation into consideration, the 49th CARIFTA Games will now be staged in 2022, forcing the 50th edition to 2023.
Guyana is a founding-member of CARIFTA, and in 1972, the games were initiated to mark the Caribbean Free Trade Association’s transition to CARICOM.
It was at the 46th edition of the games, hosted in Curacao, where Linden’s Compton Caesar created history, by winning Guyana’s first-ever gold medal in the 100m at the event.