BAAA chief Archer happy track is back

The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) experienced the official opening of its season this past weekend with the staging of the BAAA Odd Distance Classic, the Neymour Athletics Christmas Odd Distance Classic and the Blue Chip Athletics Throwers Meet. President of the BAAA, Drumeco Archer, was happy to see the meets take place without a hitch.

Blue Chip was the first meet on Saturday morning at the old Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium, and the BAAA Odd Distance Meet was held at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium that afternoon. The Neymour Athletics Christmas Odd Distance Classic took place at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Archer lauded the organizers for staging the meets in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, adhering to safety and social distancing protocols.

“This was a dry run for the future of the 2021 season,” Archer stated. “I believe that it went remarkably well. We have had a real large and strong team of volunteers to ensure that we had good social distancing. We had to beef up our volunteer team to ensure that everything was properly sanitized. All of the implements that were used was properly sanitized. We had an electrostatic gun that we used on the high jump pit so after each jump it was sanitized. I believe that we have set the trend for what a successful track and field meet should look like,” he added, speaking about the BAAA odd distance meet.

Archer said that the athletes were hungry to compete as they put on some fine performances. Over at the Blue Chip meet several throwers achieved CARIFTA qualifying marks. They include Calea Jackson (under-17 girls discus), Tarajh Hudson (under-20 boys discus), Rhema Otabor (under-20 girls javelin), Carnitra Mackey (under-20 girls javelin), Kamera Strachan (under-17 girls javelin), Kaden Cartwright (under-17 boys javelin) and Keyshawn Strachan (under-20 boys javelin).

Kamera Strachan is too young to represent The Bahamas at CARIFTA while the others are age eligible.

The BAAA chief stated that these athletes qualified without going in the weight room as the gyms were closed.

“On the track in the junior program, Paige Archer looked amazing. There was Lacarthea Cooper who looked fantastic. I saw Nya Wright who is in fine form. There are quite several athletes who I thought were impressive. The women’s side seemed stronger than the men’s but I have to say that overall the entire program looks safe,” Archer said.

Paige Archer won the under-17 long jump with a distance of 4.99 meters (m) – 16’ 4-1/2” – and finished second in the 300m race with a time 40.36 seconds. Cooper, who finished ahead of Archer in that race, posted a time of 40.35 seconds. Cooper, who competes for Red Line Athletics, also won the under-17 girls 150m race. Her time in that race was 18.56 seconds. Wright won the under-15 girls 100m with a time of 19.39 seconds. She came away with the second-fastest time in the under-15 girls 300m with a time of 42.60 seconds.

Also participating on Saturday afternoon were collegiate athletes. Washington State University (WSU) Cougars’ Charisma Taylor and Ohio State University (OSU) Buckeyes’ Shaun Miller Jr. took part in the meet. Archer said he was impressed with Taylor’s improvement. He said she is faster, stronger and jumping farther. On the short run up in the high jump, Archer said Miller was well over the bar. The Bahamas’ national record holder in the women’s triple jump, Tamara Myers, was in the pit. Although she fouled all three jumps in the long jump, Archer said he was impressed with her form and technique.

“I think that the athletes had a greater degree of focus because they had less socialization,” Archer said. “Track and field and training, has been their social forum so that in itself has created more productivity in our training program. I think that will translate quite well into performances later on this summer. I say this summer only because I believe that there is a real possibility that CARIFTA will be pushed back to the summer.”

There were not any roaring fans in the stands cheering for the athletes and Archer said he missed it but added that the BAAA’s priority is to ensure that the athletes are in a safe and competitive environment. Fans were still able to watch the meet via online streaming.

“We took a different approach and went for a live streaming platform to allow our wider viewership to be able to follow track and field competitions in a very different way. The bareness of the stands does not mean that the work is less, but in fact the work is more because we need more volunteers and a monitoring system to ensure that people are socially placed and their masks remain on,” Archer stated.

He added that although it is a different environment, he is happy that they were given the opportunity to host the meet and is looking forward to the staging of other safe and successful track meets this season.

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