Holness

Organisers of the Central Hurdles and Relays have promised to build on last year's initial staging and present a quality meet this Saturday at G.C. Foster College.

"Last year it (the meet) made a great impact. The calendar is packed with development meets and I don't see why with the kind of talent and coaches we have in central Jamaica, we can't have a high quality meet that focuses on something different from the others," Jerry Holness, the visionary behind the meet, told a gathering made up of students of Manchester, Holmwood and Christiana High, as well as the media.

The original intention was to focus on hurdles and relays, but Holness revealed that the day's programme will be tweaked to facilitate limited entries for class one and two sprints for boys and girls.

In a wide ranging address, which Master of Ceremonies, broadcaster Dwight Fraser comically referred to a "test match", Holness stated that the inaugural meet laid the foundation for the success of several teams, including his own Manchester High's 4x800m male team, which recorded a then impressive time of seven minutes, 49 seconds.

That team, comprising Alwayne Green, Jermaine Morris, Daren Lindsay and Ajai Robinson - all of whom were present at the press briefing - went on to post seven minutes and 43 seconds to land the Cham-pionships of America title at the Penn Relays last year.

The meet also heard congratulatory presentations from Edward Hector and former President of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, Pat Anderson.

Despite the potential of the meet itself, Holness admitted that there was still the tremendous need for more sponsors. Among those already listed were Juciful, Lucozade, JCK Consulting Group and the hosts for the occasion, Tropics View Hotel.