Trinidad and Tobago 1966 relay team honoured at Football Festival

NAAA president George Comissiong, left, gives an award to 1966 double gold medallist (individual 440 yards and 4x440 yards relay) Wendell Mottley. -
NAAA president George Comissiong, left, gives an award to 1966 double gold medallist (individual 440 yards and 4x440 yards relay) Wendell Mottley. -

MEMBERS of Trinidad and Tobago's champion and record-setting 4x440 yards relay team at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held in Jamaica, were honoured at the Inter-College Nostalgia Football Festival at St Mary’s College Grounds, St Clair on Saturday.

The five members of the relay team were in attendance including Wendell Mottley, Edwin Roberts, Edwin Skinner, Kent Bernard and Lennox Archer.

At the 1966 meet, Mottley also won and set a new games record (45.08) in the individual 440-yard event, while Bernard took silver. Roberts earned individual silver in the 220-yard event. The 440-yard and 220-yard events have now been replaced by the 400-metre and the 200m event.

On Sunday, a National Association of Athletics Administrations media release, said, “The 1966 race announced to the world that TT was not just a speck in the Caribbean but a country that could punch way above its weight, a force to be reckoned with. It also set a trend that other excellent sprinters have followed.”

Almost simultaneously with Saturday’s recognition event, TT athlete Jereem Richards won the 400m race at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Final in Birmingham, England.

Lennox Archer, from left, Kent Bernard, TT Olympic Committee president Diane Henderson, supporter and friend Winfield St Hill, Wendell Mottley, Edwin Skinner, Edwin Roberts and NAAA president George Comissiong. -

Richards is among a number of local 400m runners who have produced quality performances over the past 15 years. Lalonde Gordon, Machel Cedenio, Jarrin Solomon, Asa Guevara, Renny Quow and the late Deon Lendore are some of the TT 400m runners that have delivered at international meets.

The Nostalgia Football Festival featured teams from among the various schools which won intercol football competitions over the years. This year, the organisers led by Dr Ken Butcher, chose to honour the athletes along with long-standing football administrator and referee Osmond Downer and National Carnival Commission chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters.

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