Revving up the Track and Field engine

This weekend, St Vincent and the Grenadines will be revving up its Track and Field engine with the staging of the much-anticipated Wendell Hercules National Championships set for the Diamond Track Facility, on Saturday, July 19, and Sunday, July 20, 2025.

The championships will feature a total of 57 events over the two-day period.

Day one, Saturday, gets going from 9:30 a.m, with action on Day two, set to commence at 11:00 a.m.

Whilst it is not the first occasion that the championships will be held at the venue, the 2025 edition brings with it some new beginnings.

This, as for the first time since the commissioning of the synthetic track in November, 2020, it will be the biggest national Track and Field happening, a bringing together of locally based athletes as well as some of the overseas- based ones.

At the core for the new surge in interest and that greater sense of purpose in the National Championships, is a stipulation by World Athletics (WA), whereby athletes will no longer be required to meet qualification standards, but be ranked according to their performances over the season.

Therefore, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ national championships and those of other countries, will carry the most ranking points if they plan to compete at the World Championships, in Tokyo, Japan, in September, 2025.

Hence, one should see the likes of all -time record holders such as Handal Roban, the men’s indoor and outdoor 800m custodian. To the good, Roban also holds the St Vincent and the Grenadines indoor 1000m best time, and is the national Under-20 record holder for the 800 and 1500m. Roban currently attends Penn State University in the USA.

Eyes though will be on Earl Simmons who has registered the fastest ever time by a Vincentian in the men’s 100m. Simmons, who is based in Jamaica, is expected to be tested from the likes of AJ Delpesche, Kyle Lawrence, Keo Davis, J Mar Saunders and Mc Kish Compton, all who have gone 10.5 seconds and faster.

Lawrence and Compton are based in the USA and Jamaica respectively.

Notably, Vincentians will get their first show of Mikeisha Welcome, the national indoor and outdoor Triple Jump record holder, and also of the indoor and outdoor Long Jump.

These will be complemented by Jabari Michael Khensu and Brandon Valentine, both based in the USA, and who have represented St Vincent and the Grenadines in the past.

Reports are that the championships will be graced by at least two participants from Grenada, with registration also coming from one competitor from the USA, courted by Roban, and a duo from Paraguay.

Strong representation will come from local clubs, namely X- Ceed, X- Cel, High Performance, IT- DAT Academy, Biomechanics, Mustangs and Chatoyer.

Certainly, this year’s championships offer much as it will give Vincentians a sighting of some of the home-grown athletes who have since migrated; likewise those who have developed overseas.

Hence, it must be a shot in the arm for the sport which offers St Vincent and the Grenadines the best opportunity of individual global recognition.

This was played out last August at the Paris Olympics in Paris, France, when Shafiqua Maloney finished fourth in the women’s 800m, announcing herself as a force on the international stage.

Just as a reminder, Maloney became the first Vincentian to reach an Olympic Games final, and her eventual placing, represents the best showing by a woman from the English-Speaking Caribbean in the 800m, in the life history of the Olympics.

Therefore, it is imperative that Vincentians begin to give that moral support from the ground up, and not wait until our sportsmen and women begin to make strides on the regional or international scene.

They are being afforded a weekend to so, by thronging the Diamond Track Facility this Saturday and Sunday.