With the grand show less than three weeks away, organizers are hoping that the test event this weekend, the high school relays, serve as the perfect prelude and erase all concerns surrounding the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2015. The Bahamas High School All-Star Relays is set for this weekend, Friday and Saturday, at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, and every single component of the event will be set up similar to how it will be done for the world relays. The world relays will be held two weeks later, May 2 and 3, at the same venue.
Over 500 of the country's top high school track athletes from about 25 schools throughout the country are expected to compete in the high school relays this weekend. The event will get underway at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. There will be a $5 cover charge for both days of competition, and the event will serve as a qualifier for the high school segment of the world relays, as the top eight teams in the 4x100 meters (m), 4x200m and 4x400m relay events will compete in the school segment on the second day of the world relays.
On the first day of the relays, the junior segment will feature the "One Island, One Lane" concept in which the major islands of The Bahamas will be represented.
"The BAAA is very excited about this event, and we are looking forward to these rivalries that are developing at the high school level continue," said Bahamas Association of Athletics Associations' (BAAA) President Mike Sands. "We want to give our up and coming athletes the recognition that they deserve. We are calling on all Bahamians to come out in large numbers in support of this event."
Prior to high school relays, a motorcade and pep rally will be held for the young athletes, and members of this year's CARIFTA track and field and swimming teams. The motorcade will start at 4 p.m. this Thursday, and leave the national stadium, travel onto Moss Road to Thompson Blvd., head on to Poincianna Drive and then to Baillou Hill Road; move to Bay Street and then to Elizabeth Avenue, east on Shirley Street to East Street, on to Wulff Road and back to Poincianna Drive, back to Moss Road and to the eastern parking lot of the stadium where the pep rally will be held.
The pep rally is expected to get underway at 7 p.m., and will feature entertainment from fraternity steppers, cheerleaders, DJ Overdose, a pep talk from veteran athletes, and a parking lot relay competition between members of the LOC of the world relays and a parliamentary team. The prime minister is expected to be the featured speaker of the pep rally, and a junkanoo rush-out will bring the proceedings to a close.
"We are generating hype and excitement for this event," said Sands. "We're expecting an overwhelming support from the community for Thursday's pep rally, and again on Friday and Saturday for the two days of relay competition. We want to get these young athletes really excited before the competition starts so that they can go out there and perform well on the track. There are only eight spots up for grabs for the world relays, so we want them to perform at their best to see if they can get one of the available spots."
Sands, who also serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Vice Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee for the second International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) World Relays (LOC), said that their sponsors are invited to come out and be a part of the motorcade and pep rally as well. They're allowed to put up their banners on the vehicles on the motorcade, to be displayed throughout the route.
For the actual relays this weekend, there will be one age division, under-20, and teams will compete for an overall trophy, given to the school with the most points at the end of the two-day meet. That school will be dubbed, "The Bahamas High School Relay Champion". There will be 4x100m, 4x200m and 4x400m relay events in both genders, a sprint medley for women in the order of a 100m leg, another 100m leg, a 200m leg and then a 400m leg, and a sprint medley for men in the order of a 400m leg, a 200m leg, another 200m leg, and finally a 800m leg.
Also, there will be individual 100m, 200m and 400m races for elite athletes looking to have one final opportunity to be named to Team Bahamas for the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2015. The team will be selected after a selection meeting on Sunday April 19, ahead of the April 20 deadline.
Sands said that the competition is open to all, but noted that they intend to go with the six top times in each individual event recorded this season.
"All of the results for this season will be taken into consideration when the selection committee sits down to review the performances," said Sands. "This is why we are giving the elite athletes one final opportunity during the high school relays to make their cases for selection to the team."
Stefan Thies, IAAF press delegate and the director of event media services for last year's world relays, said that they are trying to simulate the world relays as much as possible this coming weekend, so that media personnel, in particular, can get a general feel of how it will be done for the world relays.
"It is important for us to test that everything is operational," said Thies. "Secondly, it will deliver a certain legacy to the young athletes. The whole idea is to test the various sections and make them user friendly. We want to test the entire media set-up, inclusive of the press conference room, the mixed zone and the media tribunes. The importance of this test event importance cannot be understated. The world relays is an IAAF event, so international guidelines must be followed, and we have to ensure that everything is in place."
The junior segment of the world relays, featuring the "One Island, One Lane" competition on Saturday and the high school relay finals on Sunday, will get underway at 5 p.m. on both days.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
