NAPSAC makes full return in 2023

After trialling the relay-only format in 2022, the Chefette Frosteez National Primary School Athlete Championship (NAPSAC) will be returning to its full slate of events in 2023 at the Usain Bolt Complex.

The NAPSAC Special Needs Awareness Walk, which was introduced last year, will also take place on March 21, while the zone competition will run from February 6 to 9 and again from February 13 to 16, with the semi-final on March 2 and the grand finale eight days later.

The popular meet, which showcases the best of the athletics talent within the nation’s primary schools, had fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the Chefette Frosteez NAPSAC 2023 media launch at the Assad Haloute Complex in Lears, St Michael, on Thursday, NAPSAC Technical Officer Ryan Toppin said the 85 public and private schools were redrawn into eight zones during the 2022 NAPSAC Icon Reveal and Zonal Draw at the Wildey Gymnasium.

“The school rolls do fluctuate, and unfortunately, have been on a downward spiral as of late,” he said.

“As the numbers go down schools have complained that they don’t have those numbers. From a personal viewpoint, NAPSAC is not a numbers game where schools are concerned because smaller schools have risen to the top of NAPSAC. The redraw was done in the fairest way we could do it and we’re expecting that NAPSAC is still going to be competitive. The zones will be very exciting, but that is how we came up with this draw.”

Existing zone records will remain intact but the athletes competing in the zones named after Olympians (the late) Marcia Trotman, Ryan Brathwaite and Freida Nicholls will get the opportunity to etch their names onto fresh sporting pages.

The following events will be held in the respective divisions:

Under 7: 50 metres dash, Standing broad jump, Tennis Ball Throw.

Under 9: 80 metres race, 100 metres sprint, 150 event, 4×100 metres relay, Long jump, Cricket Ball Throw.

Under 11: 100 metres, 200 metres, 300 metres, the 4×100 metres relay, the long jump and The Cricket Ball Throw.

Under 13:100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, the 4×100 metres relay, the long jump and The Cricket Ball Throw, Shot Put.

The Zones are as follows:

Andrea Blackett Zone:

1. St Philip Primary School
2. The Ifill School
3. St Martin’s Mangrove Primary School
4. St Gabriel’s Primary School
5. St Bartholomew’s Primary
6. St Paul’s Primary
7. Good Shepherd Primary
8. Eagle Hall Primary
9. The LITE School
10. Sharon Primary
11. Eden Lodge Primary

James Wedderburn Zone:

1. St Giles Primary
2. Ignatius Byer Primary
3. St Matthew’s Primary
4. St Lucy’s Primary
5. People’s Cathedral Primary
6. St Stephen’s Primary
7. St Luke’s Academy
8. St Christopher Primary
9. St Ambrose Primary
10. Roland Edwards Primary
11. Christ Church Girls Primary

Anton Norris Zone:

1. Reynold Weekes Primary
2. Cuthbert Moore Primary School
3. Hillaby Turners Hall Primary
4. Welches Primary
5. All Saints Primary
6. St Joseph Primary
7. St John Primary
8. Grantley Prescod Memorial Primary
9. Arthur Smith Primary
10. Deacons Primary
11. Erdiston Special School

 Marcia Trotman Zone:

1. Elliot Belgrave Primary
2. St Mary’s Primary
3. St George Primary
4. St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary
5. Charles F Broome Memorial Primary
6. Selah Primary
7. Trinity Academy
8. St James Primary
9. St Margaret Primary
10. Bay Primary
11. Beyond the Box Education

Patsy Callendar:

1. St Winifred’s School
2. West Terrace Primary
3. St Silas Primary
4. St Albans Primary
5. Mount Tabor Primary
6. Westbury Primary
7. George Lamming Primary
8. Vauxhall Primary
9. Legacy Preparatory
10. Wills Primary
11. Imperial Private School

Obadele Thompson Zone:

1. Hindsbury Primary
2. Eagles Academy
3. Milton Lynch Primary
4. St Judes Primary
5. Gordon Walters Primary
6. St Cyprian’s Boys’ School
7. Belmont Primary
8. St Elizabeth Primary
9. Bayley’s Primary
10. Warrens Primary

Ryan Brathwaite Zone:

1. Lawrence T Gay Memorial Primary
2. St Mark’s Primary
3. A Dacosta Edwards Primary
4. Gordon Greenidge Primary
5. Wilkie Cumberbatch Primary
6. Ellerton Primary
7. St Angela’s School
8. St Catherine’s School
9. Half Moon Fort Primary
10. Blackman and Gollop Primary

 Freida Nicholls Zone:

1. Holy Innocents Primary
2. Hill Top Preparatory School
3. Luther Thorne Memorial Primary
4. Wesley Hall Junior School
5. Workman’s Primary
6. Grazettes Primary
7. St Bernard’s Primary
8. St Lawrence Primary
9. Hilda Skeene Primary
10. St Luke’s Brighton Primary

The new schools entering this year’s NAPSAC are Legacy Preparatory, Warren’s Primary, Imperial Private School. Beyond the Box Education will be in their first full edition of NAPSAC after competing in the distant relays events last year. (JC)