President of the National Association of Trinidad and Tobago (NAAATT) George Comissiong is anticipating the local athletes will not have use of the recently refurbished Hasely Crawford Stadium (HCS) to host track and field events during the Carnival season which runs from December 2023 to Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
He is also advising the track clubs that use the HCS to make alternative training arrangements.
Comissiong, speaking to Guardian Media Sports during a technical officiating course at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago on October 8, said that the annual unavailability for the HCS to athletes is expected. “The interruption at Carnival is not something new. It happens every year. We expect such disruptions to be minimal.”
“One would expect that this time coaches would have considered some alternative options. It is only the clubs using the Hasely Crawford Stadium to train are dislocated and will be affected. We know the window on either side of Carnival celebrations so the NAAA would not schedule anything at HCS during that period,” the president explained.
The HCS underwent a 98 million dollars upgrade ahead of the July Commonwealth Youth Games.
However, Comissiong is advising all affected athletes that they may get some relief as the field at the nearby Woodbrook Youth Facility is being considered for use. He said, “We don’t have control over the facility. Under my tenure as president, we would have met with the stadium authorities to work out a schedule to minimise such disruptions. We also explored with the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) alternative venues that could serve as interim facilities, one of which is the hockey field at the Woodbrook Youth Facility which was resurfaced earlier this year.”
Meanwhile, Comissiong defended the decision to exclude sprinter Kion Benjamin from this country’s men’s 4x100m relay team which competed at the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August.
He explained that Benjamin finished in the sixth spot in the men’s 100m finals at the National Senior Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo in July.
However, only the top five finishers were named on the relay team. Normally the top six competitors can be selected but according to Comissiong, given Trinidad and Tobago did not have an athlete who had met the standard in the individual 100m dash World Athletics rules state only five athletes can be named in the relay pool.
However, Benjamin is the fastest T&T sprinter for the 2023 season with a time of 10.09 seconds. When asked if any special consideration could have been given for the athlete’s inclusion, Comissiong said the selection criteria must be adhered to.
Benjamin was a member of the team that won the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games 4x100m medal and ensured the sprint relay squad booked a spot in Budapest.
The men’s 4x100m team of Omari Lewis, Jerod Elcock, Devin Augustine, and Revel Webster finished 12th in the preliminaries in Budapest in a time of 38.89 seconds. At the CAC Games, Augustine, Benjamin, Eric Harrison II and Carlon Hosten combined to clock 38.30 to take the gold.
