For the first time, the Secondary Schools Track and Field Relay Festival will welcome participants from three schools within the region, for Thursday's competition at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo.
Speaking at a joint press conference, alongside Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe and Education Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly on Tuesday morning, the president of the TT Secondary Schools Track and Field Association president Joseph Brewster said this is a historic time for the sporting fraternity.
Forty-seven schools are registered for the festival this year. Of this, there will be two athletes from Guyana, two from Jamaica and two from Barbados.
The students are expected to arrive in TT on Tuesday night. multiple Olympic medallist Richard Thompson will also be at the event.
Gadsby-Dolly said an event like this will strengthen the existing ties between sport and education. “We can see the passion, we can see the enthusiasm for what is happening in the mother Carnival...”
Cudjoe added: “There are some who believe that sports and academics can't go hand in hand, but I think our athletes and schools are doing extremely well in both academics and athletics. They can go hand in hand and I see them as two different sides of the one coin. It’s a privilege to see the relay return after six long years.”
