James Cordice aiming to widen participation in Relay Classic

Insufficient competition opportunities for locally based Vincentian Track athletes, was the reason for James Cordice’s push to have an out of season event.

And, now that the inaugural event has ended, Cordice is projecting to have wider participation in future events.

His concern, for inadequate competition gave birth to the staging of the inaugural James Cordice/ X- Ceed Sports Club pre- season Relay Classic, held on Saturday, December 10, at the Diamond Track at the Sir Vincent Beache Stadium.

Cordice, who flew in from his adopted home in the USA to be on hand to witness the event explained to SEARCHLIGHT the background behind the staging of the pre- season Relay Classic.

“When I approached coach (Godfrey) Harry about having this meet, it was because I think we need to run more… The more the youths run, they are realizing many things… It is a learning process.”

Further, that “When you start running a lot, you notice a lot of things and make adjustments and I don’t think that we compete enough.”

Cordice noted that the eventual hosting of the pre-season Relay Classic was in the making for some time, however, the advent of the COVID- 19 pandemic, “knocked it out of the window”.

Pleased that the event came off with a high degree of success, Cordice said he foresees improvements.

“Going forward, it is going to be bigger and better…

“We can go back to the drawing board now and see what we need to change, what we need to adjust, what we need to tighten, because we need to format the event like a formal international meet because this is supposed to be something to empower and be used as a teaching tool”, he reasoned.

Cordice is therefore not ruling out the possibility of having overseas participation for future pre-season relay classics.

At the inaugural staging of the event, seven local clubs competed for honours.

High Performance ran away with 8 of the 14 events on the day. The X- Cel Track Club captured 3, the St Vincent Grammar School Track Club, 2, and the IT- DAT Academy, one.

The other competing clubs were the X- Ceed Sports Club, ROSES Academy and the Mustangs.

Cordice, who is originally from Clare Valley, migrated to the USA in 1988 after working in Mustique and Petit St Vincent.

Over time, he has served on several organisations in the USA, but has been involved in volunteer work in the Diaspora for many years.

He is credited for making the push for St Vincent and the Grenadines to be represented at the famed Penn Relays. His efforts were realised when the Thomas Saunders Secondary School, debuted in 2011.