AAG to host 50th CARIFTA games in 2022 due to COVID-19

Jan 28, 2021 Sports

Head of the AAG, Aubrey Hutson

Kaieteur News – The 49th Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Games will be hosted from July 2-4 in Bermuda his year instead of the customary Easter weekend showpiece.
This will pave the way for Guyana to host the prestigious 50th games in Easter 2022 and while the head of the AAG, Aubrey Hutson, welcomes Guyana’s opportunity to stage the Games, athletes who will become ineligible to compete at home will be disappointed.
The 50th CARIFTA games was initially scheduled for Guyana this Easter but after the pandemic forced the postponed of the 49th games last year, the timeline has been pushed back by one year.
Hutson shared that, “We’ve had some great athletes who would have qualified last year, but sadly, a lot of them would’ve passed the age. They would’ve either moved up in category, or passed the age of 19 years old.”
The administrator further revealed that the month of June was initially looked at but objections were made in respect to student athletes having to be accommodated to sit their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) exams.
In the interest of giving the Association, parents and athletes some peace of mind, it is Hutson’s hope that there would by then be some vaccine protocol in place. “We’re really and truly being optimistic that either a vaccine or immunisation of some sort takes places, so we can have athletes travelling just like they do with yellow fever and all the other ailments when we have to travel,” the AAG boss posited.
For the 50th games next year, modifications will be made to the National Track & Field Center (NTFC) and Hutson underlined the support of the Sports Minister Charles Ramson, “I must say that he is very, very enthusiastic about CARIFTA Games coming to Guyana, and he really and truly wants to play a major role in us putting on a good show for the rest of the world.”
Hutson informed that the AAG is, in the meanwhile, working along with the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) in order to iron out the kinks in anticipation for 2022.
“Most of the subject areas covering the CARIFTA Games have been submitted. There are still a few of them that we have to clear up with NACAC as to how we will go about getting this done.
We have to bear in mind that they are still the custodians of the meet, but they’re asking us to execute the meet on their behalf; so, we’re looking at the different budgetary allocations and how the funding (is) coming from them, and the demands that they’re making and how do we balance that,” Hutson stated.
Meanwhile, on the local scene, the AAG is working towards having the first developmental meet on the weekend of February 6-7.

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