MONTEGO BAY, St James – President of the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) Stephen Smith has blasted politicians for the deplorable state of the synthetic running track at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, which has not been used for over three years.

Arguing that political representatives had failed in their service to sports — track and field in particular — the outspoken Smith charged that “those in charge have turned a blind eye on the west”.

Smith was responding to questions raised by coaches who wanted to know when the track would be ready, during last Thursday’s virtual planning meeting for Western Championships.

The track — the only one on the island outside of the Corporate Area — which was laid in 2002, has not been used since 2018 as it has fallen into disrepair, rendering it unfit for competition.

Since then, there have been several promises from the Government, particularly Minister of Sports Olivia “Babsy” Grange, that the track would be relaid.

While work was being done to repair the track at Stadium East in the Corporate Area in December 2018, Grange told the Jamaica Observer West that the same workmen who were doing the work there would be heading to Montego Bay to work on the track, as soon as they were finished with that project.

Prior to 2018, the Montego Bay Sports Complex hosted a number of track meets, including Milo Western Champs, COCAA Western Champs, Western Primary Schools Championships and the Community Colleges of Jamaica track and field championships.

It was also the venue for the 2011 Carifta Games, the annual MVP Grassroots Athletics Clinic, as well as several other track and field-related events.

“The situation with the track is political, whether we like it or not; it is politics and I will say it loud and clear at all times,” Smith emphasised.

President of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Keith Wellington, who was part of the meeting, suggested that instead of waiting to hear from the Government, a different approach should be taken.

“The problem we are having now is that we are not in normal times and we have had so many excuses and so many explanations given as to why nothing is being done and why it has not been done before,” Wellington said, pointing out that Grange’s senior advisor is Allie McNab, a football and track athlete while at Cornwall College.

“I don’t know how many conversations we have tried to have with the minister outside of in the public space. I don’t know how many private conversations have taken place,” Wellington said, adding that there had to be some urgency in getting a meeting with the minister if there were to be any hope of having the track in place for the 2023 season.

Wellington said the Montego Bay track played a major role in the development of athletes, not just on a regional level. “It is not just a Montego Bay facility or western facility, it is a Jamaica facility,” said Wellington, who is also principal of the St Elizabeth Technical High School.

Smith pointed out that “the Carifta Games that will be held in Kingston [in April] should have been held in Montego Bay because of the facilities and amenities to host the teams that would be coming here [Jamaica] for the three-day championships”.

“If those in charge, who have way more powers than we do, have turned a blind eye to what is going on…we have been asking but if the authorities don’t see fit, that is all I can say, even when there are articles in the papers we still do not get any response,” he lamented.

He argued that there will be excuses to justify why nothing has been done for so long. “We are going to hear that the [novel coronavirus] pandemic has taken away the money. My opinion is that we have to make the best with what we have because there is nobody in the political arena that is looking out for us to ensure that we get what is best for the region,” said the COCAA president.