It is good, even great, but it is too long.
With due respect to the good intentions of the organizers, I think it is a bit hard to ask senior athletes to be at the National Stadium for 11 hours as was the case on Saturday.
This is almost twice as long as it takes to organize primary and secondary school sports.
These athletes are far younger and much more energetic than the seniors.
Not only that, you have to take into account the time it would take to prepare for the event, so in reality some of the senior competitors may have been away from home for as many as 13 hours.
In fact, by the time race walking and the relays came around, hundreds had already left the stadium.
I don’t think that any disrespect was meant for the athletes, but an extended day probably got the better of them as fatigue stepped in.
This is the last thing you want for any event no matter the level of competition.
Competitors feed off the energy of supporters and it inspires them to excel.
There appears to be a need for some streamlining where the programme will be compact but yet remain intense and entertaining or as they say these days spectator friendly.
I would pay any amount to see the Victor Young/Bentley Brathwaite rivalry or the one between speed divas Pearl Yearwood and Shirley Harper.
Jeffrey Burrowes vs Henderson Waltress is a must see. The sprinting of Jennifer Swanston-Jones, Leroy Straker, Martin Jones and Mark Norville; the middle distance excellence of Ainsley Lovell; the enduring legacy of former Olympian Marcia Trotman, the pride of a June Benjamin against the industry of a Kathy Harper Hall and the enduring theatrics of Renwick “Escort” Brewster and Sandra Lewis are worth the entrance fee.
But it shouldn’t have to take more than ten hours for us to enjoy all that the seniors have to offer.
You can argue the advantage school sports enjoy is that they are spread over five days and it will always be possible to keep any given day to a maximum of six hours except on occasions of things like rain delays or malfunctioning of electronic equipment which is central to starting and timing.
One of the options for the seniors includes an extra day which will also give those who do multiple events longer rest periods and reduce the possibility of injury.
Having said that, I also observed that on several occasions last Saturday organizers had to combine some of the categories because at times they weren’t enough athletes in one age group or another.
The solution to this would call for early registration before the day of competition so that decisions can be made on who will be competing in the various age groups and respective disciplines. When registration has to be done at the Stadium it contributes to some of the long delays which have become part of the Games.
I will also say that such conditions make it difficult for “live” media coverage of the Games especially television. I can bear witness to this having worked as a television commentator since the inception of the spectacle. Still, I want to congratulate our seniors for their proactive response in the call for them to age actively and the organizers for providing the stage for them to express themselves through track and field.
• Andi Thornhill is an award-winning freelance sports journalist.
