CAYMAN ISLANDS – From April 3 – 5, 2010, the Cayman Islands will welcome more than 500 athletes from 25 different nations to participate in the prestigious junior athletics competition, the 2010 CARIFTA Games. Over Easter weekend, participants and spectators alike will enjoy the festive atmosphere and beautiful scenery of the Cayman Islands, while enjoying the competitions taking place at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in vibrant George Town, Grand Cayman.
The annual competition, sponsored by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), will be held in the Cayman Islands for the first time in fifteen years. Athletes in two age categories for boys and girls, Under 17 and Under 20, will compete in track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track events, jumping and throwing events, and relays. The CARIFTA Games will also serve as a qualifying meet and springboard for Caribbean nation athletes competing for a spot in the first-ever World Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August.
Three months after experiencing the earthquake, Haiti is expected to send a team to participate in the games. Organizers of CARIFTA and representatives from both private and public sector organizations in the Cayman Islands have been working together to raise funds to donate to the Haitian team, to assist with offsetting the country’s athletic federation costs of participating in games. Fundraising efforts will include a silent auction which will feature a pair of autographed track shoes signed by Usain Bolt, current World Record holder and past CARIFTA athlete.
The CARIFTA Games have traditionally served as a testing ground for many of the Caribbean’s greatest athletes including Usain Bolt and Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, Obadele Thompson of Barbados, and Cayman’s own Cydonie Mothersill, Kareem Streete-Thompson and Ronald Forbes. More than 30 Olympic Games medalists can trace their prominent athletic careers back to the CARIFTA Games; the Cayman Islands team has brought home medals from the annual event every year since 2000. Scouts and coaches from the U.S. attend the CARIFTA Games each year to identify top talent for recruitment to their Colleges and Universities athletic programs.
