Son follows in dad’s ‘Champs’ footsteps
IT is often difficult for sons to follow in the large footsteps of their fathers.
However, the thousands attending the 100th staging of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston, witnessed just that.
Seventeen years after Edward “Little Blacks” Clarke won his 11th and 12th individual medals for Jamaica College at Champs in 1994, his son Edward Clarke Jr, has emulated his dad winning two medals in his first Champs.
Speaking with the Observer after watching his son take silver in the Class Three long Jump, the senior Clarke, expressed satisfaction that son is carrying on his legacy.
“As a father it makes me feel very proud,” Clarke said, noting that he has always provided the necessary support for his son to achieve his dreams.
“One of the things that I always wanted was to pass on the legacy to him and because of that legacy, achieving his first medal for Jamaica College makes me feel very proud,” he added.
The junior Clarke later clocked 11.06 seconds to place second in the 100 metres, doing better than his father did in his first Champs appearance way back in 1988.
“His achievements at Champs 100 fits well with me… he seems to like a lot of events just like I did because he’s good at the 100m, the 200 also the long jump and he also like the 4x100m which allows him to be a lot more competitive than I was in my first year at Jamaica College because I only did two events,” said Clarke, who finished fourth in the 400m and eighth in the 800m in 1988.
“I think he is actually a far better athlete than I was in many senses, in terms of the determination he has in his first year coming out, and winning two medals… I think he has a very good road ahead of him,” added the senior Clarke, who went on to finish his seven-year ‘Champs’ career with 12 individual medals which comprised six gold, five silver and one bronze.