| Relay Festival Key to Developing National Relay Style |
| By Teshell Samuel |
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Lonzo Wilkinson (2nd from left) with bronze-medal men's relay team in Dageu, South Korea |
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SKNAAA officials are looking to the upcoming annual S. L. Horsfords Pacesetters Relay Festival to initiate the development of a relay style specific to St. Kitts-Nevis. President and Head Coach of the Pacesetters Club and Coaching Coordinator of the St. Kitts Nevis Amateur Athletics Association, Lonzo Wilkinson, said the event will also determine the Federation’s fastest relay teams.
“What we are looking to do is develop a style of relay for the Federation. We hope that this festival will set a specific form of doing it for persons that run relays, and not just when a competition comes we just put four athletes together for a race,” he said.
Wilkinson is the brainchild behind the development of the bronze medal National Men’s Relay team that performed above expectations at last year’s World Championships in Dageu, South Korea and the Pan Am Games in Mexico. The track guru understands the importance of a well-tuned team and indicated that several countries, including the USA, have suffered in relay events due to their athletes lacking the chemistry necessary to become a winning team. He hopes the upcoming event would encourage coaches to develop camaraderie among their athletes in preparation for other meets scheduled through the athletic season.
“We hope that schools and clubs will start developing a chemistry among their teams for their individual school sports day as well as the Interschool Championship, Rams Primary Championship and leading up to the National Championship,” Wilkinson said.
According to the coach several persons have passed through the Pacesetters annual event and gone on to make strides in the regional and international athletics arena and he anticipates that this year will be no different.
“We have had persons like Jason Rogers, Tamika Williams and Marisa Williams who have all participated in past meets and have gone on to do well and become part of the national men’s 4x1 relay team in Dageu and Mexico and the world championship female team two years ago and the Olympic team four years ago,” he commended.
Several new faces have been emerging since the start of this year’s athletic season both from St. Kitts and Nevis, Wilkinson explained, adding that the young athletes “could go on to do great things regionally and possibly internationally”. He highlighted athletes from the Saddlers Secondary School that could showcase their abilities at the Interschool Championship in March.
“I think that Saddlers Secondary will be a force to be reckoned with come Interschool. I have seen a few of their athletes and they look really good so you have to keep your eyes on them. Their coach James Pemberton is a good coach and I know he will bring them to a level that will allow them to compete for the Championship.”
The head coach noted that since the start of the athletics season there has been greater athlete participation. He said it would be no surprise if on Sunday (Feb 5) there is representation from each of the schools at the meet.
“No one wants to let the other school win so they have all been coming out,” he said.
In addition to the relay races scheduled for the meet several other events will also be incorporated, Wilkinson said. Two sprint medleys for both junior and senior athletes will be held, one Swedish medley and one distance medley. Non-track events such as javelin and high jump will also take place.
Exhibition races have become an annual fixture to the meet however this year football teams from the Premier Division were invited to participate as well. The clubs will battle to determine the fastest football club and the fastest footballer among the teams in the SKNFA league.
“During the last festival we invited all the DJs in the federation to come and participate to determine the fastest of them all. That was done in Sandy Point. We had some difficulty to get them back again so we decided to turn to the football clubs, we figured that they would be fitter and up to the challenge,” he said, adding that the top three teams will be awarded for their performance.
The winning female and male relay teams as well as the overall top relay team of the meet will be awarded.
The S. L. Horsfords Pacesetters Relay Festival will be held on Sunday February 5 at the Verchilds Playing Field at 1:00pm. |
