QUARRIE...we are not in a position right now, based on thecoronavirus situation to see where we are going
April 24, 2020
Quarrie urges JAAA to focus on multiple meets rather than one-off ‘Trials’
With no major championships set for this season, the time allocated for National Championships in early August by World Athletics could be used in a better way to help athletes prepare for the season should there be one, says Olympic gold medallist Donald Quarrie.
In an attempt to salvage something from the 2020 track and field season that has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, World Athletics had set aside August 8-9 in their restructured global calendar for countries who wanted to have National Championships.
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Speaking with the Jamaica Observer recently, Quarrie said he would be proposing to the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) to forego a National Championships and stage a series of all-comers meets that would be of greater benefit to the athletes who by then might just be getting back to training.
Additionally, Quarrie said the early August date would clash with Jamaica’s Independence celebrations, which, in the context of things, would be of much greater importance than a National Championships.
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“We are not in a position right now, based on the coronavirus situation, to see where we are going… the Independence celebrations will be in early August and I think that will take precedence over just about everything, as after the country has gone through all this with the COVID-19 situation, it will be something that will be very uplifting, something to try and bring the country back together,” opined Quarrie.
It would be up to the JAAA if they decided to go ahead with the National Championships, but said they should think of the athletes first.
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“It’s fine if we want to have the trials, but my suggestion would be, maybe, and I will call the JAAA about this, would be to put on about two or three all-comers meets as one meet would not give them enough preparation to go to Europe.
“I think a series of meets can be set up which would give the athletes an opportunity to gradually get themselves back into shape,” Quarrie asserted.
With the restrictions due to COVID-19, Quarrie said the athletes might not have been able to train as well as they would have liked and would not be in the best physical condition.
“I am sure that some of them would have issues with training facilities, and have to be home by certain times or train early in the morning, so these are things we have to look at and hopefully get about three all-comers meets which I think would be more beneficial to the athletes,” Quarrie reasoned.
— Paul Reid
