It’s ready, set, go for tonight’s inaugural Barbados Grand Prix, with the likes of Barbadians Sada Williams, Jonathan Jones, Mario Burke and Akela Jones; Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor, Bouwahjie NKrumie and Serena Cole and Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle Lee-Ayhe gracing the Ryan Brathwaite Track.
Hundreds of track and field fans are expected to converge on the Usain Bolt Sports Complex for the fourhour spectacle featuring Barbados’ best against many of the Caribbean’s finest athletes and rising talents.
Following the opening ceremony at 6 p.m., CARIFTA Games back-toback bronze medallist Teon Haynes of Eagles will be favoured in the men’s long jump, where he will come up against Outlaws’ Aaron Massiah and Panthers’ Dejuan Walcott.
The first event on the track will be the women’s 100-metre hurdles where the United States-based Adeyah Brewster, representing Lions, will battle British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) Deya Erickson, who was drafted by the Outlaws. Two other Barbadian United States collegiate hurdlers, Nya Browne (Eagles) and Brieanna Boyce (Panthers), are also in the race.
The men’s 110-metre hurdles will see the United States’ Almighty Williamson (Eagles) battling Jamaican Odario Phillips (Outlaws), the United States-based Tai Brown (Panthers) and Nikkolai Kennedy, who are past Barbadian CARIFTA representatives.
World Championship bronze medallist and Olympic Games finalist Williams, who is also a
Commonwealth Games gold medallist, is scheduled to take the track at 6:50 p.m. in the women’s 400.
Apart from her Outlaws teammate Sakena Massiah, who is on a scholarship in the United States, Williams’ biggest challenge should come from Jamaican Shana-Kaye Anderson (Eagles) and Bahamian Printassia Johnson (Lions). Olympics 400m hurdler Tia-Adana Belle will also be among the starters as well as the improving CARIFTA silver medallist Kadia Rock (Eagles) and another US-based athlete, Asia Foster.
The men’s 400 will see the Outlaws duo of Jonathan Jones and Rasheeme Griffith facing Bahamian Alonzo Russell, Panthers’ Desean Boyce and Trinidadian Shakeem McKay.
US-based Aren Spencer, who conceptualised the event, will be wearing the colours of Lions in the 400, with Bajans Kyle Gale (Eagles) and Tyrique Johnson (Lions) completing the eight-man field.
The women’s 200 should be a battle between American Naj Watson, Trinidadian Sanaa Frederick (Panthers), BVI’s Beyonce Defreitas (Outlaws) and Lions’ Brianne Bethel, with Aniya Nurse, Kelia Bentham and Tionce Walrond leading the local charge.
The men’s 200 will see Jamaican Demar Francis, Trinidadian Kion Benjamin and Grenadian Nazzio John in a head-to-head battle against Bajans Kuron Griffith, Ajani Ince and last year’s CARIFTA silver medallist, Aragorn Straker,
CARIFTA Games gold medallists Layla Haynes and Ashlyn Simmons will clash in the women’s 800, slated for 7:40 p.m. ,while Outlaws’ Favion Gollop, a former CARIFTA silver medallist, will clash with Aaron Morris (Eagles), who won bronze this year, and Trinidadian Zalen Nelson (Lions).
Olympian Akela Jones (Eagles), Trinidadian Tyra Gittens and BVI’s Chantal Malone (Panthers) are the favoured trio in the women’s long jump.
Trinidad and Tobago’s four-time Olympian Lee-Ayhe and compatriot Akilah Lewis are the favoured in the women’s 100 but Barbadian World Under-20 bronze medallist Kishawna Niles will be looking to upstage them.
Cayman Islands’ back-to-back CARIFTA gold medallist Davonte Howell will make his long-awaited return to the country of his birth as he races against Trinidadian Jerod Elcock, BVI’s Wanyae Bell and Jaleel Croal and the Bajan quartet of Mario Burke, Julian Forde, Darian Clarke and Justin Maynard.
The meet will conclude with the Mixed 4x400m, 4×100 and 4×400 relays where the Jamaicans, who are hoping to qualify for the World Championships, are highly favoured. (EZS)
