JAAA tackles World Athletics ratification issues
Published:Wednesday | October 15, 2025 | 12:09 AMKaren Madden/Gleaner Writer
TRACK AND field’s local governing body, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), is seeking to prevent last year’s controversy where some local meets were not ratified by World Athletics because they had not been registered.
The matter was addressed during last weekend’s JAAA Annual Calendar Conference, which was attended by meet organisers, officials, and coaches gave them insight as to the steps required for a local track and field meeting to be listed on the World Athletics Global Calendar.
World Athletics implemented the requirement on January 1, 2023, and since then, only competitions listed on their global calendar are recognised by the body, and competing athletes can earn world-ranking points.
President of the Jamaica Track and Field Association David Riley gave details on the application process, the minimum 70-day lead time for all written requests, and the associated fees.
Meanwhile, the importance of safety in the competitions area was a major talking point for World Athletics International Technical Official Bryan Roe in his address.
The conference was held under the theme “Making Competitions Safe For All” and the Australian, who recently served on the Jury of Appeal at the recently concluded World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, gave details on the safety considerations for the various events and how scheduling of concurrent events can make the competitions’ area safer.
“Maintaining safety in competition areas is the responsibility of meet organisers and officials. If safety clashes with the competition rules then safety should be the consideration.”
Also presenting at the conference was Dr Safiya Franklyn of the Jamaica Association of Sports Medicine.
Speaking under the theme “Medical Support for Meet Patrons.” she stressed “the importance of meet organisers making sure those provisions are in place and the 1 to 100 ratio of medical personnel to patrons is maintained. There should be clear signage of the first-aid stations and the various protocols in place to make sure the proper response is possible in the case of any eventualities.”
Other key points from the conference were the presentation of the draft JAAA 2026 calendar by Ian Forbes, chairman of the JAAA Competitions Commission.
The 2026 Calendar has 105 competitions listed of which 32 are international competitions, including the World Athletics Indoor Championships (March 20-22), CARIFTA Games (April 4-6), World Athletics Relays (May 2-3), NACAC U18/U23 Championships (June 5-7), Commonwealth Games (July 27 – August 1st), World U20 Championships (Aug 5-9), and the World Athletics Ultimate Championships (September 11-13) in Budapest Hungary.
The major competitions in Jamaica include the Gibson-McCook Relays on February 28, CARIFTA Trials from March 6 to 8, the ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships, March 24 to 28, Racers Grand Prix on June 13, and the National Junior and Senior Championships from June 23 to 27.
JAAA President Garth Gayle, who gave opening and closing remarks, challenged all stakeholders to work together to maintain Jamaica’s dominance in athletics on the regional and global stage.
Post-conference activities include consultations with meet organisers where there are scheduling, venue, and other issues to have those resolved within the next few weeks.
The final 2026 JAAA Calendar is then presented at the association’s annual general meeting on November 25 following ratification by the JAAA Executive.