Port of Spain take 9th consecutive title

ONLY 16 points separated Port of Spain and Caroni in the 2018 Atlantic National Primary School Track and Field Championships, but a brilliant showing in the relay events ensured Port of Spain walked away with its ninth consecutive title at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, yesterday.

Following a colourful march past, eight districts competed at the championships including Port of Spain, Caroni, Tobago, Victoria, St Patrick, St George East, North East and South East.

After events such as the long jump, high jump, javelin, 1500m walk and sprint events, the relay events brought an exciting close to the championships. Port of Spain, running in red, black and white, dominated the relays to seal yet another title ahead of Caroni and Tobago.

Port of Spain ended with a total of 439 points, followed by Caroni with 423 points and Tobago with 372 points. Port of Spain snatched the lion’s share of individual awards winning four of the eight individual awards up for grabs. Abeyola Akowe, coach of Port of Spain, was happy with her team’s win. Akowe said, “I am very proud of the team, elated by the victory. It was difficult in coming, because we had some hindrances when it came to training (in terms) of getting the athletes out to train, but we pushed through and we practised when we could. The athletes did put in the work and were able to be successful today (yesterday).”

Akowe was satisfied with the performance of the team, as a number of athletes did not start training with the team until the Secondary Examination Assessment (SEA) was complete in March.

The Port of Spain coach thanked the parents for the support. “We must say thank you for the support of the parents who stepped in and brought the athletes to the training sessions,” Akowe said.

The smooth relay passes by Port of Spain sealed the title and Akowe said the training paid off. “It did pay off.

We had two blunders in the Under-9s and I know a lot of the competing teams felt we were off target, but we gave them those. We won all the other relays after that. We did practice when we got the opportunity, we drilled them and the children don’t complain because they know at the end of the day you have to work hard for victory.”

OVERALL RESULTS

1 Port of Spain - 439 points

2 Caroni - 423 points

3 Tobago - 372 points

4 Victoria - 301 points

5 St Patrick - 282.5 points

6 St George East - 278 points

7 North East - 268 points

8 South East - 164.5 points

TOP ATHLETES

Under-9 Girls

J’Nae Bertete - POS - 20 points

Under-11 Girls

Jenna Thomas - CAR - 30 points

Under-13 Girls

Janika Jordan - POS

Under-15 Girls

Kevah Scott - Tobago - 28 points

Under-9 Boys

Michael Paul - SGE - 10 points

Under-11 Boys

Makaelan Woods - POS - 24 points

Tyrique Vincent - CAR - 24 points

Under-13 Boys

Hakeem Chinapoo - VIC - 22 points

Under-15 Boys

Jordan Noel - POS - 28 points