Red-Line Athletics Meet set for this Saturday

Under the patronage of Sonja Knowles, the long-serving principal of St. Augustine’s College (SAC) who would have been so supportive to high school track and field and sports on the whole over the last three decades, the Red-Line Athletics Club is staging its first-ever track and field classic.

The one-day meet, which is set for this Saturday at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, has already attracted over 800 registrants, and club head coach and president Tito Moss, himself a graduate of SAC, said they are now targeting 850. Divisions from under-seven right on up to under-20, both boys and girls will be contested.

Moss said it has been challenging to stage a track and field meet in this COVID-19 environment, but with the help of committed sponsors and the blessing of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), they were able to make it happen. The BAAA will handle the facility charge for the one-day meet.

“We are pretty excited,” said Moss. “We intend to run the meet with all of the COVID protocols in place meaning that the athletes would have to take a health survey prior to entering the stadium, and there will be temperature checks and regular sanitizing of hands. A number of volunteers will be in place to ensure that social distancing is carried out. Also, all of the instruments and equipment will be sanitized and we intend to deliver the meet in a safe 

environment and in line with the protocols. There is in excess of 800 registrants so obviously there is a lot of excitement generated among the athletes. We’re looking for the meet to run smoothly.”

The three-year-old Red-Line Athletics Club has expanded from 15 athletes in its first year to 65 student-athletes today, and it is continuing to grow. There are seven coaches contributing to the program.

“We’re excited with what’s ahead for us as a club,” said Moss. “This was established to fill a void that was left with the retirement of Dianne Woodside from coaching. Some of the athletes wanted me to assist with preparation in getting them ready for the season and the club was formed. Our base was at SAC and majority of the athletes are still at SAC. There are some promising athletes at the 11-12th grade level. Ms. Knowles would have been instrumental to the development of track and field over the past 30 years and we want to recognize what she has done. We also will be honoring Dianne Woodside for her contribution.”

Moss is assisted by others such as Head Athletic Trainer Mike Armbrister, consultant and athletic trainer Shakeitha Henfield and coaches Earl Rahming, Rachante Colebrooke, Mikea White and Rochelle Rolle in the running of the club. In just three short years, the club has facilitated scholarship offers to seven youngsters, worth over $700,000.

The meet gets underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday. There will be medals for the top three finishers and trophies will be awarded to the high-point winners in the respective age divisions.

“It has certainly been challenging (staging a meet in this COVID-19 environment) but once we got running and mobilized, we were able to push forward,” said Moss. “There are some businesses which partnered along with us to make this possible and we are grateful to them for that. We have to thank Fidelity Bank and Trust, FRM Construction, Pedialyte, Nassau Agencies, Lady Darling Steel and the BAAA. Their assistance and that of smaller donors enabled us to put on a meet where there is no revenue from entry fees or a concession stand. We’re positioning ourselves to make sure we live up to all of our expectations and we look forward to CARIFTA qualifiers and great results on the weekend.”

There may not be any spectators in the stands so as to conform to the COVID-19 standards and protocols in place, but the event will be live streamed.

BAAA President Drumeco Archer said that Red-Line Athletics has their full support as they welcome more meets on the calendar, thereby creating more development opportunities for athletes and more avenues for them to qualify for this summer’s CARIFTA Games. CARIFTA has been postponed again, now set for August 13-15 at the Bermuda National Sports Centre, in Hamilton, Bermuda.

“Track and field is one of the leading sports in this country and it has impacted a legion of athletes and people who would have made significant contributions to this country,” said Archer. “I’m very excited about the future prospect of track and field in The Bahamas. When you look at Red-Line Athletics, that was a fledgling club three years ago with 15 athletes, taking the quantum leap of increasing their enrollment to 65 in just three years. It is a testament to where track and field is going and where it is expected to go over the next 4-10 years. This is significant because there are very few people of the track and field community who take the lead and say they will mount a meet of their own. It is so refreshing to see clubs like Red-Line grow and reach the level where other established clubs have reached.”

Archer said he is especially pleased that Knowles is being recognized.

“For 30 years as principal, Sonja Knowles would have given a lot to athletes and it is pleasing to me to see that she is being remembered for the work that she has done in sports and in the development of young men and women who are so proud to be Bahamians. I congratulate Red-Line Athletics for taking the lead in doing the honorable thing,” said Archer. “The BAAA has enjoyed the benefit of clubs which has taken the lead in hosting individual meets and this proliferation of leaders have really made track and field what it is today. We have been able to prevail in a COVID environment when very little would have been available to us.

“In the BAAA, we promote the BAAA through the clubs and with a non-spectator environment upon us through the requirements, we were left trying to figure out how we would go about hosting track and field competitions. We are indebted to the clubs that have made the effort to host meets to keep the sport relevant and flowing in the right direction. The BAAA is taking the stance of paying the facility usage charges to allow our clubs to host meets with minimal economic expense to themselves. We just want to congratulate Red-Line Athletics and we look forward to a successful meet.”

Archer said with the CARIFTA Games being pushed back, one of their challenges was finding competitions for the athletes to compete in and sustaining the track and field season. So far, just 14 athletes have qualified for the CARIFTA Games. As the extended season goes on, Archer expects more and more athletes to attain the qualifying standards.

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