Milo Relays will be a day/night affair

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

In its inaugural staging in 1978, the Milo Western Relays was staged in the blazing sun on a grass/dirt track at Cornwall College. Now, fast forward 34 years, this year's event will be staged under floodlights on the synthetic track at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in St James.

Like the major national and international meets that are staged at the National Stadium in Kingston, the 2012 Milo Western Relays, which will take place on Saturday, February 11, will start at 11 a.m. and end at approximately 9 p.m.

"It will give the people who have been missing the meet over the years because of work and other day-time commitment a chance to come and enjoy three to four hours of the meet," said meet organiser Ray Harvey.

Whatever concerns Harvey might have had about a day/night event were dispelled after seeing the 2011 LIME-CARIFTA Games being staged successfully and incident free at the Catherine Hall facility.

"Most of the patrons at the LIME-CARIFTA Games came in the evening and by the time the event ended close to 9 p.m. we had a large number of fans," noted Harvey. "We are expecting the same situation with this year's Milo Relays."

With the novelty of the meet concluding under lights, it is expected that the list of participating prep/primary, high schools and club/institutions should see an increase over last year's 90 entrants. In addition, being an Olympic year, many of the nation's top stars are expected to be on show.

Advantages

Over the years, top-flight local club MVP has been known to unveil all their top stars, to include Asafa Powell, Michael Frater, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Melaine Walker, Sherone Simpson, Kaliese Spencer, and Bridgette Foster-Hylton at the Milo Relays.

While acknowledging that the Milo Relays' new day/night arrangement has its advantages, track enthusiast Keith Wellington, principal of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), said his athletes might be forced to spend two days instead of the usual one in Montego Bay.

"The biggest disadvantage for STETHS will be the fact that the meet will become almost a two-day affair in terms of accommodation and transportation," said Welling-ton. "Students may now have to overnight in order to participate".

However, outside of the impact on STETHS, Wellington said staging the event at night will add to the atmosphere of the annual event and should significantly improve spectator attendance.

"I think the big advantage will be that there is likely to be a greater atmosphere created by the evening crowd, who would be more comfortable and should turn out in greater numbers," said Wellington. "This means that we are likely to see better performances/times in the afternoon once the weather stays good."

In addition to STETHS, which has been one of the dominant schools at the Milo Western Relays over the years, the other top schools such as Kingston College, Wolmer's, Munro College, Holmwood Technical, Edwin Allen, Herbert Morrison, and Cornwall College are expected to participate.