The 2024 Inter-Primary Track and Field Championships featured 22 schools and around 900 athletes, making the meet the biggest ever held since its inception over 20 years ago.
Competitors also set new records at the event, held at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex from 13-15 March.
“We have seen the level of competition rise,” Mark Ray, director of the Department of Education Services, told the Compass. “You are seeing schools close the gap in terms of first place and second place.”
Red Bay Primary School was crowned champion after amassing 376.33 points, ahead of last year’s winners Prospect Primary, with 331, and Theoline L. McCoy Primary, with 261 points.
The event is one that Delroy Murray, president of the Cayman Islands Athletics Association, believes showcased the potential of the young athletes.
“This is my 23rd Inter Primary and when I first attended this meet, I thought that there was no track-and-field talent in this country and by the end of the meet I was at the edge of my seat because the talent is bountiful,” Murray told the Compass.
Aiden Wilson proved to be one of those talented athletes. The Year 6 student at Sir John A Cumber Primary School won every event he competed in, including the final race of the day, where he came from behind in fourth place in the anchor leg to help his team win the boys 4×100 relay.
“I’m very proud,” an exhausted Wilson told the Compass with a smile on his face immediately after his final race as a primary school student.
When asked if he was happy with how he competed over the years for his school, he responded, “It’s been really good. I loved the cheers. I thank Sir John A Cumber and thank you to all the cheerleaders, everyone.”
Murray said athletes like Wilson usually drift away from track and field but he is hoping that will change.
“With this talent, Cayman shouldn’t be struggling to find qualifiers for CARIFTA, etc,” he said. The path should be going up but instead it is going in a straight line or it’s going down, and it is because the schools at a high school level seem to not put the emphasis on sports.”
Facilitating involvement of parents
While the competition continues to grow in the number of both schools and exceptional athletes, Ray said there is still room for the meet to become even bigger.
He said his team is looking to adjust the timing of the Inter-Primary competition to enable working parents to attend to cheer on their children.
“The public needs more opportunities to take part in this… meet because these are the future CARIFTA gold medallists, future Olympians, and they need support,” Ray said.
“Ultimately, we will have our final internal meetings and do the stakeholders consultation and come up with a plan that will allow the public to engage more.
“That could mean a concept of live-streaming, pushing the times back, where all the finals are held later in the evening.”
The 2024 Inter-Secondary Track and Field Championships for high school athletes is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, 20 March.
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