The 2018 High School National Track and Field Championships, expected to be bigger and better than ever before, was officially launched yesterday at a major press conference at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the National Sports Authority (NSA) in conjunction with the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) will stage the high school nationals from March 8-10, at the new Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
“We are looking forward an exciting event next month and we expect the crowd support to be top-notch each day that its being staged,” said Director of Sports, Tim Munnings. “We anticipate that the action on the track will be exciting as athletes are still trying to qualify for the upcoming CARIFTA Track and Field Championships. We here at the ministry, especially in my department, we want to ensure the success of this national annual event. We are fully committed to the success of the nationals and we’ll do whatever is required of us.”
A large Family Island presence is expected at this year’s meet, seeing that the government, for the first time, extended an invitation to accommodate at least 20 athletes from each outer island school.
“There will be no excuse this year for school’s not to be able to field their best athletes at this year’s meet,” said Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture representative Mike Sands. “This is the first time something like this is being done. We are putting at least 20 kids from each Family Island school up, paying for food, accommodations and ground transportation.”
The Nationals will be composed of the under-14, under-16, under-18 and under-20 categories for boys and girls.
With CARIFTA being staged in New Providence beginning on March 28, nationals are being held slightly earlier than usual. A week after nationals, the BAAA will host the final CARIFTA trials for the team that will represent the country over the Easter holiday weekend.
