Building on the excitement of the inaugural New Life Invitational, a World Athletics (WA) Continental Tour Silver Meet, the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) is looking forward to its own series of meets in 2022.
The first NACAC Athletics Tour, featuring about five to 10 meets around the region, is set for the early months of next year. NACAC President, Bahamian Mike Sands, said this is something that was in the planning stages for some time, and they’re excited to bring it to fruition.
NACAC is set to accommodate some of the established meets in this region as circuit events, and climax the tour with the New Life Invitational in the summer of 2022. One of the primary objectives of the tour is to encourage athletes in the NACAC region to compete in meets in this region. Sands said it is also their intention to provide more competitive events for second-tier athletes.
“The whole idea of the circuit is to create an avenue for the athletes to compete on this side of the world. There would be no need for them to go back and forth to Europe,” said Sands. “Once our season would have ended, then they could move on to Europe if they so desire. We intend to meet with all of the meet directors to see how we could bring them on board and form this circuit. It could possibly be as many as 12 events. We’re going to schedule it appropriately, so that it doesn’t interfere with the Diamond League schedule. It’s just about creating opportunities for our athletes. It will cater primarily to second-tier athletes because they are the ones who won’t necessarily land in the big meets.”
Sands said that he would like to see the return of mid-week competitions to add a different flair and atmosphere to the respective events.
“We’re satisfied that we are on the right track,” said Sands. “I don’t know if we will ever be back to normal as we knew it, pre-pandemic, but I certainly expect the world to be in a much better place as time goes on and for there to be better interaction and more competitions under less restrictions. When we look at the New Life Invitational, there were over 200 athletes competing and athletes were able to earn ranking points and also win prize money. There was $75,000 given to athletes at New Life in prize money and we’re looking for that number to increase next year. This is going to be an annual event that will cap off the NACAC circuit, which we expect to run from the middle of March to about the first or second week in June.”
Sands said they received good support from the city of Miramar, Florida, and the Pan American Sports Organization in the staging of the New Life Invitational in early June. The one-day meet, on June 5, was held at the Ansin Sports
Complex in Miramar. The world leading time in the men’s 100 meters (m) this season, 9.77 seconds, was turned in American Trayvon Bromell, at that meet.
“What we would like to do is develop the city of Miramar into the hub for track and field on the east coast, much like Eugene, Oregon,j is on the west coast,” said Sands. “The athletes are very enthused. They’re looking to stay on this side of the globe and the track in Miramar is a great facility. The city of Miramar was very welcoming and accommodating and we were able to put on a successful meet. We’re looking forward to it being just as grand next year.”
This year, the next meet on the NACAC calendar is the NACAC Under-18 (U18), Under-20 (U20) and Under-23 (U23) Championships, set for July 9-11 at the National Stadium of Costa Rica in San José, Costa Rica.
“We took a position to implement an under-20 division this year to accommodate those athletes in the under-20 division who wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity to compete at the CARIFTA Games this year,” said Sands. “There are not going to be any fans at this juncture, but we expect the athletes to put on some great performances. A lot of the younger athletes are hungry for competition. They would have missed CARIFTA again this year, and they are eager to represent their respective countries on the regional stage. We didn’t want to disenfranchise any athlete, so we thought it would only be fitting to have an under-20 division. Also, when you look at what’s coming up later this summer, the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, we thought it was only fair to have an under-20 division at NACAC to give those athletes a taste of international competition before the World U20s.”
The WA World U20 Championships is set for August 17-22, in Nairobi, Kenya.
As far as the 2022 CARIFTA Games is concerned, the 49th edition of the junior regional athletics championships, Sands said they are yet to identify a host country, but one option remains allowing Guyana to host both the 49th and Golden Jubilee 50th editions of CARIFTA.
Bermuda was initially set to host the 49th version of the meet this year, and Guyana was picked for the 50th version in 2022, but CARIFTA was cancelled for the second year in a row in 2021, due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sands said Bermuda hasn’t expressed any interest in staying on as the host country of the 49th CARIFTA Games.
Sands said he was pleased to see the number of athletes in the NACAC region taking part in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Junior and Senior National Championships at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium two weekends ago.
“I think that bodes well for track and field in our region, and we are very happy to see that, and on the scale that it was done,” said Sands. “There were about 40 athletes from 12 countries who participated and I congratulate the BAAA for that – giving athletes from around the region an opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games. We will continue to encourage undertakings like that,” he added.
Given the recent positive test for a banned substance for American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, and other doping cases in the NACAC region, Sands said he encourages athletes to stay up to date as best as they can with what is on the banned substances list, and to be mindful of what they are consuming.
“Athletes ought to be aware because the rules are very stringent,” said Sands. “You and you alone are responsible for what goes into your body. There is sufficient information out there for athletes to know what they should consume and what they shouldn’t consume. If they have any doubt, they should seek guidance and advice as to whether or not something that they are about to take is on the banned list. The list is constantly being updated, and as athletes, you have to be aware of what you are putting in your bodies. There is sufficient education out there and the athletes do have the resources to find out what’s on the list. Some know and others take a risk knowing that there is a chance that they could get caught. I just encourage all of our athletes to be careful because their careers and their livelihood are at stake.”
Sands said that he is not surprised with the impressive times and results that have been recorded this season, particularly by NACAC athletes.
“It’s in keeping with NACAC producing the top athletes and top times in the world,” he said. “We won 50 percent of the gold medals at the 2019 World Championships – that does not include the other medalists and the personal best times and national and area records. Our athletes were responsible for seven world records in 2019. This just continues the trend that we have been witnessing for some time now. It also says that our athletes are hungry for competition. It’s a credit to the coaches as well, because for them to have their athletes producing top times after such adverse conditions with the pandemic still affecting us, no level of consistency with training and access to facilities, it goes to show that the coaches were doing a great job in keeping these athletes focused and ready to compete. It’s an indication of what to expect in Tokyo in the next couple weeks.”
The NACAC region is once again expected to be well-represented in the athletics competition of the Olympic Games. The Games of the 32nd Olympiad, also known as Tokyo 2020, is set for July 23 to August 8, in Tokyo, Japan.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/nacac-developing-circuit-for-2022/
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