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World Best Athletes for JN Jamaica Invitational Meet

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The JN Jamaica Invitational Track Meet, a major annual event of the Jamaica Administrative Athletic Association (JAAA), has a full lineup of Olympic caliber athletes, says Donald Quarrie, Meet Director.

Mr. Quarrie said the event, which is scheduled to be held at the National Stadium on Saturday, May 5, has attracted many of the top ten world ranked athletes in several events. These athletes include double record holder, Usain Bolt; 100m world champion, Yohan Blake; former world record holder, Asafa Powell; Olympic and World Championship gold medalists, Michael Frater and Nester Carter.

“Jamaican track and field fans should look forward to seeing repeat Olympians and future Olympic champions,” Mr. Quarrie, who is an Olympian, said. He was addressing the JN Jamaica Invitational Meet Press Conference at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel, on Wednesday, April 25.

World sprint champions Carmelita Jeter; Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and Melanie Walker; World 100m hurdles champion, Brigitte Foster-Hylton; Olympic gold medalist, Sanya Richards-Ross; and Great Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu, will also be in the line-up.

Other athletes confirmed are Jamaican Nickel Ashmead, USA’s Justin Gaymon, along with Germaine Mason from Great Britain.

Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart, Novlene Williams, and Kaliese Spencer are also slated for the Meet. Other international athletes for the women’s events include: USA’s Bianca Knight; Shalonda Solomon; Joanna Atkins and Elizabeth Moloy.

Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas and Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago will also participate.

“We recognise the tremendous gains that have been made in the hosting of this event; and we anticipate even greater success will be achieved in the future,” said Leon Mitchell, Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Assistant General Manager, Group Marketing, Sales & Promotions. He noted that this was the final year of a three-year financial partnership between JNBS and the JAAA.


Ludlow Watts (right), Chairman of Organising Committee, Jamaica Invitational Track Meet and Leon Mitchell (centre), Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Assistant General Manager, Group Marketing, Sales & Promotions share a joke with Donald Quarrie, Meet Director of the JN Jamaica Invitational Meet at press conference on Wednesday, April 25 at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel.

The Building Society, the title sponsor, is committed to working with the JAAA to ensure that this year’s Meet is of the highest standard, Mr. Mitchell said.

Seventeen events in the Meet will be streamed live to approximately 100,000 householders across 25 countries this year. Promoted last year from an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Area Permit Meet, to World Challenge status, the JAAA is hoping that the Meet will ultimately achieve the IAAF’s lucrative Diamond League certification.

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