Athletes to seek national titles this weekend

Local athletes will be seeking for national champions honours when Team Athletics SVG stages the Wendell Hercules National Open Championships at the Diamond Track this weekend, May 6 and 7.

Male and female athletes born after December 31, 2009 are eligible to compete in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 100m Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jumps, Shot Put, Javelin and Discus events.

Set to run off from 1:00 p.m on both days, the championships will also help in placing athletes in good stead for national selection.

The attachment of Wendell Hercules to the National Championships began in 2019. However the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic affected the hosting of the 2020 and 2021 editions.

When the championships resumed last year it was changed to an open event as individuals, rather than clubs or schools, received the accolades.

The name Wendell Hercules was popular here in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in the 1960s and 1970s, as he was then a top middle -distance athlete.

As a result, he was given the moniker “ Steel Donkey” for his stamina on the track and on the road.

Hercules, who attended the St Martin’s Secondary and the St Vincent Grammar School, left for the

USA in 1972 on a full Athletics scholarship at the University of Idaho.

He gained a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and made the USA his adopted home. Hercules died in February, 2017.

As a precursor to the championships on Saturday, the local Kids’ Athletics Programme will celebrate Kids’ Athletics Day, from 10:00 a.m to 12:30 p.m.

Kids’ Athletics Day is celebrated on May 7. It is global celebration of children and young people involved in Athletics.