CARIFTA Games full report

Four athletes represented Dominica at this year’s CARIFTA Games staged in Hamilton Bermuda over the Easter weekend.

Cedric Harris president of the Dominica Amateur Athletics Association (D.A.A.A) served as the Team Manager, Shirley Francis, past Vice President of the D.A.A.A, was the female chaperon and Nabi Wallace served as the team Coach.

The athletes were registered to compete in the following events:
– Shanee Angol U-17 Girls Javelin
– Luan Gabriel U-17 Girls 100 meters and 200 meters
– Cameron Carbon U-17 Boys 1500 meters and 3000 meters
– Kevin Toussaint U-20 Boys Javelin

After the completion of the first day of competition Shanee Angol secured bronze in the U-17 Girls Javelin with a distance of 35.71 meters.

Cameron Carbon placed 8th in the boys U-17 1500 meters with a time of 4:41.64.

Luan Gabriel placed 2nd in the 100 meters U-17 Girls Semi-Finals with a season best time of 11.98 seconds but had to settle for 6th place in the finals in a time of 12.11 seconds.

On the second day of competition Cameron Carbon took to the track again this time for the U-17 boys 3000 meters. He placed 7th in a time of 10:02.77 and was commended for his gutsy spirit exhibited in the race.

Going into the final day of competition all eyes were fixed on Luan Gabriel who set the fastest preliminary time in the U-17 Girls 200m. In 2011 she claimed the bronze medal with a new national record of 24.25 seconds and was able to erase that record after clocking 24.09 seconds in the semi-finals at 2012 Carifta Games.

Meanwhile Kevin Toussaint was eliminated after the third round of the U-20 boys’ javelin throw as he was only able to throw a distance of 49.35 meters while the top seven competitors in his event were all throwing over 60 meters. “I was intimidated when I saw the distances the other boys were throwing the javelin,” he said.

But Dominica’s moment to shine came at 5:30pm on April 9th, Easter Monday. This was when the 200 meters U-17 Girls took place with Luan Gabriel representing the island. The girls push out their blocks and breaking off the bend first was Dominica’s Gabriel together with Saqukine Cameron and Aneka Brissett of Jamaica.

Stride for stride Luan went down the home stretch with the Jamaicans at her side. Just about 30 meters to the finish line Dominica’s sprint princess pulled away from the two Jamaicans and brought home the nature island first ever gold medal in a sprinting event at the Carifta Games.

Coach Nabi Wallace is putting forth the following recommendations for future games:

– The CARIFTA Games standards should be made available at the start of the competition season so that coaches and athletes can be given early notice for preparation.

-Qualifiers who will represent the national team should meet each other prior to departure at which a code of conduct and expectations for the games should be presented.

-Sponsorship for the games should be sought at the beginning of the year to avoid the last minute rush.

– Proper competing gears for the athletes should be arranged in addition to a team tee shirt for travel so that everyone could be uniformed in the same attire.

– The Club and School representative on the D.A.A.A executive should encourage coaches to ensure that promising athletes have a valid passport.

– The mental preparation of an athlete during competition is of vital importance. Therefore when a high quality athlete qualifies for an event the first choice to accompany that athlete should be the athlete’s coach.