Mike Andrews reflects on Carifta's humble beginnings in 1972: 'They owe us a track suit'

MIKE Andrews, a member of the first Trinidad and Tobago Carifta team in 1972, said the memory of representing his country as a teenager will forever be a fond memory of his.

Andrews, 70, was part of a TT contingent that travelled to Barbados for the inaugural games.

Organisers of the first Carifta Games, which included many TT nationals, were hoping to have the meet in Trinidad. However, it was held in Barbados because Trinidad did not have a track in those days.

Andrews, a former Queen’s Royal College (QRC) student and Hampton Club member will reunite with his 1972 teammates during the 2025 Carifta Athletics Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, from April 19-21. The 1972 team included Laura Pierre, who later that year became the first woman to represent TT at the Olympic Games.

TT athletes who represented this country at the Carifta Games from 1972-1992 will be part of the reunion.

The Florida-based Andrews sat down with Newsday to share his enjoyable experience being selected on the national junior team.

“It was exciting for me. It was my first trip on a plane,” Andrews said. “The other travel (I did) was on the boat back and forth from Tobago.”

Andrews lived in both Trinidad and Tobago when he was young, but when Hurricane Flora hit Tobago in 1963 a nine-year-old Andrews and his family had to live in Trinidad permanently.

Putting on the national colours at the Carifta Games was a proud moment for him. “They gave us shirt jacks at the time with the TT Coat of Arms. Just wearing that was exciting for all of us.”

The team did not stay at any five-star hotel, but the youngsters did not mind as the accommodation helped to build chemistry.

“We did not stay at a hotel, we stayed at the garrison which was the Army barracks for the Barbados Defence Force. Think of the barracks atmosphere with the beds all over, no private rooms, no nothing. That made it fun because (it was) laughing and talking all the time. You are trying to sleep at night and the dynamics of somebody talking when they should be sleeping.”

TT athletes nowadays get their own uniforms, but that was not the case for the 1972 team.

“We got the shirt jacks (to keep) and then they (TT administration) gave us tracksuits, but we had to return the tracksuits. To this day some of the athletes still talk about that. They say they owe us a tracksuit,” Andrews said while laughing.

Andrews was one of the best all-around athletes in the 1970s in his age group. Andrews, 17 at the time, proved that at the 1972 games winning field medals, along with a podium finish on the track.

He got silver in the 4x400-metre event, bronze in discus and silver in javelin. TT won 11 medals at the first Carifta Games.

Despite being a quality athlete in field events, Andrews had a passion for track events.

“I preferred running so that is what I did most of my training for. The other things were just (natural) strength and power. I did training just to get the technique (right). In the field events, my real love was javelin. I could outthrow anybody.”

Andrews was a class above his peers locally. He would set the standard early in field events and then switch over immediately to the track events during meets.

“I use to do the javelin event, make one throw which would beat everybody else, and then go back to the running events,” Andrews said with a laugh.

Andrews encouraged the athletes on the 2025 TT team to keep reaching for the stars even if results don’t materialise at first.

“I was never discouraged. In the early days I wasn’t the best back in QRC. Even my age group they had athletes better than me, but I kept training, kept doing the work necessary to get better. By the time I left QRC, I was the best athlete in QRC.

“For the youngsters, if you don’t win now, later on if you keep at it you are going to win.”