Kingston College (KC) Head Coach Leaford Grant has described last Saturday’s Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys’ Athletics Championships victory as the best birthday gift that he has ever received in his life.

Grant, who turned 57 on Saturday, joined forces with members of the team, students, teachers and past students to celebrate KC’s 34th lien on the Mortimer Geddes Trophy at the school’s at 2A North Street campus Monday morning.

“It is a special day for me and a very special time and I enjoyed it tremendously,” said Grant. “I never thought at first that the final day would have fallen on my birthday, but it did and I enjoyed it a lot because even today (Monday) I am still here celebrating it with everyone,” he said.

Grant said Saturday’s victory is a testament to his athletes’ hard work and dedication and is a great example for other student athletes to follow.

“My advice to our students here is that when we go out and perform the way we performed at this championship, it is really a positive to the youngsters that come to the school.

“They can look up and they can hold their heads up high and they can say that their schoolmates are performing to the best of their abilities,” Grant said.

Dave Myrie, principal of KC, told those who assembled for the celebration that his institution has no intention of relinquishing the title any time soon, especially since the school will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025.

“We would love to hold onto it as long as possible and if anybody says they wouldn’t, then they would be a joker,” said Myrie.

“If you look at how Champs goes, teams are popping up all over the place and doing well because Edwin [Allen] expected to win [Girls’ Champs] and Hydel came through and so all I would say is that never bet against KC because we are going put a team out there that is good,” he said.

Myrie said that a lot of people had been sceptical of KC’s chances of retaining the championships this year, but he was always confident in his school’s chances.

“Most of our doubters were external to KC because any internal doubters just need to forget about KC from here on out,” he said. “We were very clear in our minds where we were going to go and when we had checked the points, I knew that it was going to be difficult for us to lose,” Myrie said.

Delroy Chuck, minister of justice and a past student of KC, who was also in attendance, said he was very delighted to be a part of Monday’s celebrations.

“It is a great feeling because I am here at Kingston College to participate in the celebrations of this victory, which is our 34th hold on the Mortimer Geddes Trophy,” said Chuck.

“I would like to say the feeling is one of real exhilaration. I went to Champs on Saturday and I was so proud to see how the boys put in a performance of their lives to make sure that KC won,” he said.