BAAA Yet To Buy Airline Tickets For The Athletes

According to Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) President Mike Sands, airline tickets for the 27-member team that will compete in the International Association of Athletics Federation's (IAAF) World Championships has yet to be purchased. The governing body for track and field in the country is in a big financial hole and is currently struggling to meet the expenses for the meet, which is less than 16 days away. The 14th edition of the championships will be held in Moscow, Russia, August 10-18.

 Click here  to read more from the Nassau Guardian  - http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40714:baaa-yet-to-buy-airline-tickets-for-the-athletes&catid=41:sports&Itemid=50

No Training Camp For Team Bahamas At Worlds

The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) cannot afford to host a training camp prior to the International Association of Athletic Federation's (IAAF) World Championships, due to the financial position the local governing body for the sport now finds itself in, according to president of the association, Mike Sands.Sands said that a camp could not be organized in a timely manner, and as a result, the executives made a decision not to host any. The 14th edition of the IAAF World Championships will be held in Moscow, Russia, August 10-18.
Click here  to read more from the Nassau Guardian - http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40715:no-training-camp-for-team-bahamas-at-worlds&catid=41:sports&Itemid=50

Top Bahamian Sprinter To Miss Iaaf Worlds

Click the link to read the full story.

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2013/jul/23/top-bahamian-sprinter-to-miss-iaaf-worlds/?news

8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 5 (FINAL DAY)

The final day of competition was short with just one session of events.

Left: Denzel Pratt. Right (front to back): Pennerman, Kerr, Rolle, & Deluze. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Throws

Denzel Pratt went into the javelin finals, fist Bahamian ever, and was only able to muster together a throw of 64.20m. this toss was good enough to get him an 11th place finish. Winning the event was Matija Muhar of Slovakia with a toss of 78.84m, Morbert Rivasz-Toth of Hungry silver 78.27m, and Pablo Bugallo of Spain bronze 76.63m.

Relays

Bahamas World Youth boys relay team finished the medley race in a season best time of 1 minute 52.97 seconds for 5th. The team was comprised of Keanu Pennerman, Ian Kerr, Kinard Rolle and Henri Deluze. Winning the event was Jamaica in a NEW WORLD YOUTH WORLD RECORD time of 1 minute 49.23 seconds for the GOLD, USA 1:50.14 silver, and Japan 1:50.52 for the bronze.

Now that the World Youth Championships have come to an end, Team Bahamas will head back home where some of its member will continue training for the upcoming Junior Pan Am Championships August 23rd-25th in Medellin, Columbia. We here at Track Side Bahamas extend our congratulations to the WYC team for a great job done!

Track Side Bahamas © 2013

8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 4

Relays got underway at the championships, as Team Bahamas made strides on the track and on the field in Day 4 in Donetsk, Ukraine.

From left to right: Jenae Ambrose, Kadiesha Hield, Mesha Newbold & Drexel Maycock. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Relays

The Bahamas' girls Medley Relay was the first of the team to compete on the track for the morning session of Day 4, July 13th, 2013. The young runners were able to finish 5th in heat 3 of the event with a time of 2 minutes 13.63 seconds. This result was good enough to rank them 12th in the world, but just shy of making the finals scheduled for tomorrow.The USA girls lead qualifiers, 2 minutes 07.13 seconds. The boys squad had a different fate. They were able to finish 2nd in heat 2 of their preliminary round with a time of 1 minutes 53.38 seconds. That team will advance to the finals ranked 6th overall. Leading the boys finalists is Japan with a time of 1 minutes 52.18 seconds.

Sprints

Jenae Ambrose once again got a second chance in a semifinal, this time coming in the girls 200m. Running blind from lane 8, Jenae finished 6th in heat 2 of 3 semifinals. her time of 25.05 seconds was not enough to advance her to the finals, and she ends her quest for a 200m championship ranked number 19th in the world.

Jenae Ambrose. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

The boys side saw Ian Kerr finishing just off pace in a time of 21.91 seconds into a gusty headwind of -2.5. Kerr finished 5th in heat 2 of the boys 200m, ranking him 14th overall, and not advancing him to the finals. Janeko Cartwright went in the following heat. Janeko did not have a good race as he suffered some injuries and did not finish (DNF) the race.

Ian Kerr. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

Janeko Cartwright. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Jumps

The boys high jump competition lived up to the excitement it had promised. Laquan Nairn of Team Bahamas leaped to a huge personal best of 2.16m. The winning jump of the competition came from that of Sanghyeok Woo of Korea 2.18m, just 2 centimeters high than the Bahamian. The drama unfolded as Laquan was in a 3 way tie fo the bronze medal when it came to the clearance of the 2.16. CARIFTA gold medalist Christoff Bryan won the bronze medal as Nairn and Olesksandr Baranniko of Ukraine and more knockdowns. Laquan is now ranked the 5th best youth high jumper of 2013.

Laquan Nairn. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

Throws

In the qualification rounds of the boys discus throw Drexel Maycock went in Group A. He ended the competition with no mark. He was just unable to get his mark down, and get a fare throw in.

Track Side Bahamas © 2013

8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 3

History has been made as Team Bahamas competed at the WYC today, Day 3 of competition.

From left to right: Denzel Pratt, Kawain Culmer, & Xavier Coakley. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Throws

Coached by women's national record holder, Lavern Eve, Denzel Pratt made history as he is the first Bahamian male to advance to a finals at the World Youth Games in a throwing event. En route of this accomplishment, Denzel threw a personal best of 70.88m. This was good enough for him to go into the finals ranked 10th of the finalist who advanced. He also set a NEW JUNIOR NATIONAL RECORD, breaking Kevin Smith's record of 69.94m set back in 1989.

Hurdles

Xavier Coakley was not far off from his PR as he finished his semifinal in the boys 110m hurdles. He was 6th in semifinal 3 with a time of 13.93 seconds. That was just enough for him to finish 16th overall, had he ran his personal best as he did at the junior trials in Nassau, he would've advanced to the finals. Nonetheless, he had a great competition in both the 400m and 110m hurdle races.

Jumps

St. Augustine's athlete Kawain Culmer had the triple jump qualification rounds today. Culmer is the younger brother of the women's national record holder in the high jump, Kenya Culmer. Kawain was able to get a personal best of 14.96m to finish 9th in of qualification Group B, and 14th overall. This means he was just two spot shy of being another Bahamian to advance to a finals at the Games.

Sprints

Jenae Ambrose. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

The 200m for girls saw Loushanya Neymour and Jenae Ambrose in action. Jenae went in heat 7 and finished 3rd in a time of 24.40 seconds. This time was good enough for her to advance to tomorrow's semifinals. 

Loushanya Neymour. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/Bahamas Athletics

Loushanya's time of 25.08 seconds was only good enough for 5th in heat 3, and does not advance her to the next round of competition. 

On the boys side of the 200m, both Bahamian competitors advance to the semifinals. Ian Kerr was first up for the young men, and finished 2nd in heat 3 with a time of 21.68 seconds. Second competitor Janeko Cartwright won heat 6 in a time of 21.57 seconds. These athletes are ranked 8th and 14th heading into the next round, out of 24 athletes.

Ian Kerr. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Janeko Cartwright. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Track Side Bahamas © 2013

8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 2

Though day 2 brought some athletes of Team Bahamas' meet to an end, we also saw some of those athletes advancing to the semifinals and finals of their respective events.

Throws

Breshae Woods had the qualification rounds of the girls shot put in session one of today's competition. She had a best throw of 13.27m. That throw was only good enough to rank her 24th in group A, and does not advance her to the finals. Woods finishes the meet as the 47th youth in the world of 56 competitors.

Breshae Woods. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Hurdles

Hurdler Xavier Coakley was able to advance to the semi finals of the boys 110m hurldes with a pretty good performance. Xavier was 5th in preliminary heat number 2. His time time that helped him to advance was 14.05 seconds. In session two of today, Coakley also went on to compete in the boys 400m hurdles semifinals. He finished 6th in semifinal 1 with a time of 53.78 seconds, and does not advance to the finals.

Xavier Coakley. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Jumps

Laquan Nairn got underway with his second event of the meet in the boys high jump. Nairn cleared the automatic qualifying height of 2.09m. This attempt was cleared on his second attempt at the height and as a result, Nairn goes into the finals ranked number 6 on the count of knockdowns.

Laquan Nairn. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Sprints

The boys 400m semifinals took place, and competitor Janeko Carwright had another personal best performance. Janeko finished 3rd in semifinal 2 with a time of 47.23 seconds. The top two of each semifinal automatically advanced to the finals, and because of his time Cartwright was unable to advance to the finals of the event.

Janeko Cartwright. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Sprinter Jenae Ambrose didn't have the race she had planned. In the semifinal 1 of the girls 100m, Jenae finished 7th in a time of 12.02 seconds. This time was slower than her prelims time of 11.99 seconds ran yesterday and does not advance her to the finals.

Jenae Ambrose. Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics

Track Side Bahamas © 2013

8th IAAF World Youth Championships Update: Day 1

Team Bahamas got underway in a slow fashion as day one of the Championships got started in Ukraine.

Sprints

In the boys 400m Kinard Rolle finished 5th in heat 5 with a time of  49.51. Unfortunately,  his time was not good enough to advance him to the next round. On the other hand, Doris Johnson sprinter Janeko Cartwright won heat 7 with a personal best time of 47.25, and advances to the next round and keeps the hopes of making the finals alive. Kadeisha Hield, in the girls 400m, was 6th in heat 7 with a time of 57.63, and ends her quest for the quarter mile. She now shifts her focus on the 200m.

Jumps

Carifta long jump champion Laquan Nairn ended up 13th overall in the boys long jump with a leap of 7.33m. The automatic qualifying distance was 7.35m, and had Laquan finished 12th he would have made the finals. That distance was the exact distance that the next competitor leaped to advance.

Hurdles

Xavier Coakley did not disappoint in the boys 400m hurdles as he went on to finish 2nd in heat 1. Xavier's time was 54.11 seconds, and set him up for a good lane draw in the semifinals. D'mitry Charlton was 5th in heat 3 in a time of 56.09 seconds, but his competition ended there. The girls 400m hurdles saw Talia Thompson  and Mesha Newbold in action. Talia finished 7th in heat 2 and Mesha 6th in heat 4. Their times were 1:04.43 and 1:05.72 respectively.  As expected, a time of 1:02 or better was needed to make it to the semifinals.

Sprints

Makeya White was the first Bahamian female to compete in the girls 100m. She ended up 5th in heat 2 with a time of 12.62 seconds. The second competitor was the compact Jenae Ambrose who was 2nd in heat 6. Her time of 11.99 seconds easily advances her to the next round of competition. In the boys 100m heats, Ian Kerr was 3rd in heat 3 in a time of 11.04 seconds, and Keanu Pennerman 3rd in heat 4 11.21 seconds. Neither of the young men will advance to the next round. Kerr, however, will now concentrate on the 200m heats.

Team Bahamas is not done yet, so stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages for live updates, and we will have a daily update on this very blog.

HAPPY 40TH INDEPENDENCE DAY BAHAMAS!!!

Photo Courtesy Kermit Taylor/ Bahamas Athletics
Track Side Bahamas © 2013

Gold, New National Record & World Championships Qualification for Team Bahamas!

Adrian Griffith, Jamial Rolle, Trevorvano Mackey, Shavez Hart combined their efforts to break Bahamas’ 4x100m national record twice, first in the heats with 38.92, and then in the final with 38.77.

Shavez Hart brings home Bahamas for the men's 4x100m gold at the 2013 Central American & Caribbean Championships.

For future updates check out our facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/tracksidebahamas
Track Side Bahamas © 2013

TEAM BAHAMAS SET FOR 2013 IAAF WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS

Scheduled to get underway in 3 days is the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Team Bahamas is well diverse this year in terms of the disciplines in which they are ready to participate. The team is comprised of 8 girls and 11 competing under the age of 18.

Sprints:

On the girls side, CARIFTA under 17 silver medalist in the 200m Jenae Ambrose leads the way in the 100m. She will be joined by CARIFTA teammate Makeya White. Ambrose will lead the charge with a season’s best time of 11.83 seconds ran in the preliminary rounds of the 2012 CARIFTA Games held in Nassau. The boys will also see two CARIFTA participants in Ian Kerr and Keanu Pennerman. Pennerman is the under 17 boys silver medalist from those games. He has a season’s best of 10.64 seconds, and Kerr 10.75 seconds, both ran at the Bahamas Junior Nationals.

One girl and boy will attempt to pull off the 200m & 400m double for team Bahamas. Kadiesha Heild and Janeko Cartwright are those athletes. Cartwright is a more experienced athlete on the team and has so far had exceptional years on the junior level. Cartwright most recently won the junior nationals 400m in a personal best time of 47.26 seconds which ranks him 12th amongst youth in the world, and was second to Kerr’s 21.30 in 21.31 seconds respectively. Those times rank them 12th and 13th in the world.

Heild will be joined in the 200m by Loushanya Neymour, and in the 400m by Shaquania Dorsett. These young ladies are new talents to emerge in track and field this year and are slated to perform well at the youth championships. Kinard Rolle will join the field in the boys 400m with an impressive time of 47.83 seconds at the junior trials, bettering his silver medal performance at this year’s CARIFTA games in his previous best of 48.05 seconds.

Mid-Distance:

Claudius Russell is the lone member of the team in the distance events. He enters the championships with a 1 minute and 54.14 seconds 800m personal best timing ran at the Golden South Classic in Florida in May. Russell has shown progression in his race and times as the season has developed and is expected to do well.

Hurdles:

Standout sprint hurdler Xavier Coakley will enter the meet in two events. In the 110m hurdles Coakley is ranked 15th in the world with a time of 13.84 seconds, ran at the junior nationals into a gusty head wind. As a results, he is expected to perform extremely well when the competition gets underway. Coakley is to be joined by D’Mitry Charlton in the 400m hurdles. Both athletes come into the meet with personal bests ran this year. Charlton’s 52.97 seconds and Coakley’s 53.06 seconds ranks them just outside of the world’s top 20, but certainly puts them in contention to peak well, and advance through the rounds.

Talia Thompson and Mesha Newbold will both compete in the girl’s 400m hurdles. They have so far had a number of meets where they performed pretty well, but look forward to giving their best performance in Ukraine.

Jumps:

Leap of Faith Jumper Laquan Nairn will contest in both the Long and High Jump. In the Long Jump Laquan is ranked 10th in the world in a leap of 7.40m, which he did at the 2013 Carifta Games held in Nassau, Bahamas. Laquan is also ranked 10th in the High Jump in a height of 2.11m.

Kaiwan Culmer Iis slated to compete in the boys triple jump. He too was a CARIFTA competitor who is looking now to step up at this world endition of track and field. His best of 14.65, done at the Bahamas junior nationals sets him up for a good competition, and if he can surpass the 15 meter barrier he can be in contention to make the finals.

Throws:

Brashae Wood was a CARIFTA bronze medalist Iin the under 17 girls shot put. However, after the junior national trials where we saw a huge PR of her with a heave of 13.76m, it is evident that she is in peaking form and ready to make a stamp on her first major meet appearance. If Brashae were to make this final, she would be the first Bahamian to do so at this meet in a throwing event.

Javelin standout Denzel Pratt looks to also be another Bahamian to make history in the throws Iif he's able to advance to the finals of the boy's javelin. Pratt is coming off a 4th place finish at the CARIFTA games with a throw of 62.53m (800kg). This should be an indication that Denzel can throw further and possibly hit the 70m mark with his youth impliment, but his first time throwing it was at the junior nationals where he qualified for the WYC 63.01m (700kg).

Drexel Maycock is the third thrower seeking to make history of making a WYC final. Since Bradley Cooper, Bahamas National Record Holder, there hasn't been such a talent in the discus. Maycock is coming off of a promising performance of 54.14m competing unattached at the Jamaican Jr Nationals where he atttends high school. His coach is confident that he can throw further, and hope its at the WYC.

Speaking generally to the team, they are all excited to be competing in Europe and are ready to all set personal bests. Moreover, they all mentioned the success of Nivea Smith Stephen Newbold and Shaunae Miller at the World Youth meet, and would like to live up to and carry on such success. We at TrackSide Bahamas want to wish them all the best! For future updates you can check us out - http://www.facebook.com/tracksidebahamas Track Side Bahamas © 2013

XXIV CAC Senior Championships Update: Saturday 6th, 2013

The men's 4x100m lived up to their fantastic preliminary time. In an exciting race the men's 4x100m ran away with the GOLD medal with an impressive IAAF World Championships qualifying stand and NEW NATIONAL RECORD of 38.77 seconds. Second was Jamaica 38.86, third Trinidad 39.26. The Bahamian team was comprised of Adrian Griffith, Jamial Rolle, Trevorvano Mackey and Shavez Hart.

Trying to rebuild a dominant force known by the world in previous times, the women's quartet of Tayla Carter, Cache Armbrister, Debbie Ferguson-McKinzie and Nivea Smith took the bronze medal in the women's 4x100m relay. Their tume of 44.08 seconds followed Jamaica's 43.58, and Trinidad's 43.67.

In the finals of the men's 400m,  Bahamians Welsey Neymour and Latoy Williams had some disappointments.  First, Neymour was disqualified for a false star violation. The race then got underway and Williams did not finish. We still are left to find out whether he is healthy, and he was not available to comment.

On the field, national triple jump champion Tamara Myers proved why she had such a great season. Myers went on to win the women's triple jump with a leao of 13.18m, defeating Trinidad Olympian Ayanna Alexander by one centimeter 13.17m. This is a huge improvement fir Tamara as just in 2011 she had placed 6th at this CAC meeting.

National record holder Jeffery Gibson got through to the finals of the men's 400m hurdles winnng heat one of two. His time of 50.57 seconds is the forth fastest time to advance.For future updates you can check us out - http://www.facebook.com/tracksidebahamas
Track Side Bahamas © 2013

XXIV CAC Senior Championships Update: Friday 5th July, 2013

With session one of the games completed, Team Bahamas had some notable performances as they got off to a good start.

In the men's 4x100m,  team Bahamas won heat 2 in the fastest time of the day of 38.92 seconds.  This time was not only setting the Bahamas up for the finals, but set a NEW NATIONAL RECORD! The team was set up in the racing order of Adrian Griffith on the lead off, Jamial Rolle 2nd, Trevorvano Mackey 3rd,  and anchored Shavez Hart.

In the women's 100m finals Cache Armbrister finished 5th in a time of 11.42 seconds and Debbie Ferguson-McKinzie 7th in 11.85 seconds. Both athletes had ran faster preliminary times of 11.35 and 11.42 respectively.  The event was won by Jamaican Sherry-ann Brooks 11.21 seconds.

Shavez Hart and Warren Fraser went into the finals with preliminary times of 10.16 and 10.19 seconds, ranking them 3rd and 5th. Shavez missed the IAAF World Championships Standard by .01. In the finals, both athletes didn't fear as well but still ran some impressive times. Hart finished 4th in 10.23 seconds, Fraser 8th in 10.30 seconds.  The event was won by Andrew Fisher of Jamaica 10.14 seconds.

With the withdrawal of long jump favorite Raymond Higgs, lone competitor for the Bahamas Rudon Bastian finished 6th overall. His best leap of the day was 7.55m. Winning the event was Alberto Alverez of Mexico 7.85m.

The women saw action in the preliminaries of the 400m. Lanece Clarke was 5th in heat 2 in a time of 54.38 seconds. Amara Jones was 4th in heat 1 in a time of 54.63 seconds. Neither women advanced to the finals.

Quartermilers Latoy Williams and Wesley Neymour both finished 2nd in their respective heats (1 & 2). Latoy's time of 46.50 seconds ranks him 3rd, and Wesley 46.66 seconds 5th heading into tomorrow's finals.

St. Lucia's Lavern Spencer had a huge performance in the women's high jump as she lept to a new championship record of 1.95m. Congratulations to the Lucian!

Track Side Bahamas © 2013

BAAA ratifies 23-member team for the 2013 IAAF World Championships

Females
Sheniqua Ferguson - 100m & Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie -100m Anthonique Strachn - 200m Nivea Smith - 200m Shaunae Miller - 200m & 400m
 Bianca Stuart - Long Jump
 Cache Armbriste 4x100m relay pool
Lanece Clarke, Amara Jones , Shakeitha Henfield, Miriam Byfield and Cottrel Martin

Males
Derrick Atkins - 100m
Jamial Rolle - 200m , Trevorvano Mackey - 200m & Michael Matheiu 200m & 400m
Ramon Miller 400m , Latoy Williams 400m, & Chris Brown 400m
Jeffery Gibson - 400m Hurdles
Ryan Ingraham - High Jump
Stephen Newbold & Wesly Neymour 4x400m Relay Pool

NOTE: ADDITIONAL ATHLETES WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO QUALIFY AT SR.CAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Track Side Bahamas © 2013