GUYANA will host the 2023 CARIFTA Games, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Caribbean’s largest youth and junior track and field event.

This is according to president of the Athletics Association of Guyana, Aubrey Hutson, following the news that the 49th edition will possibly be held next year in Jamaica.

The CARIFTA Games was last held in 2019, when the Cayman Islands hosted the 48th edition.

The games had faced a postponement and then cancellation when it was next scheduled for Bermuda in 2020 and earlier this year, owing to the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the Island’s measures that were put in place to contain the virus.

Ideally, the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games should have been held in Guyana this year, but like everything else, had to be pushed back because of the coronavirus.

“NACAC had initially asked for us to host two editions, but we got the commitment from the Government for the 50th,” Hutson told Chronicle Sport.

According to the AAG president, hosting the jubilee edition of the CARIFTA Games in 2023, will allow for the local organising committee to better plan and give enough time for the Government of Guyana to handle the much-needed repairs at the National Track and Field Centre, at Leonora.

“It will give us more time to prepare for the games. By then, we will have work completed at Leonora and put more things in place. Minister Ramson has given us a commitment of Government support and we are grateful,” Hutson said.

With several international hotels being constructed and earmarked for competition by 2023, Hutson also said the area of accommodation will also be addressed and compounded in-time for the highly anticipated event.

Renowned Jamaica-based website, Track Alerts, reported that Garth Gayle, president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) said the Land of Wood and Water received a letter from the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC), asking them “to undertake the hosting, it’s in short order, but we believe we can do it.”

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.

The 2017 CARIFTA Games will go down as one of the country’s most memorable outings, given the fact that they were able to bag eight medals – four gold, three bronze and one silver.

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.

Chantoba Bright will go down as the most decorated Guyanese athlete (to date) ever to grace the CARIFTA Games, with the Kansas State student amassing a total of nine medals – three gold, four silver and two bronze in her four outings at the championship.