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Maycock expects to reach budgeted goal; Archer says athletes will be ready
Simba FrenchSend an emailJanuary 20, 2023 149 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The 50th CARIFTA Games is just 76 days away and the Local Organizing Committee for that event (LOC) said that plans are on track as The Bahamas looks to host it from April 8-10 at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference after introducing ALIV as the official communications partner and broadcaster of the event, Chairman of the LOC Harrison Thompson said that the facilities will be ready. Also coming on board yesterday, as a gold partner, was Accounting Outsource Services Ltd.
“We are very confident that the stadium will be ready. The government has already awarded the contract for the renovation of the stadium and that should start by next week God’s willing, so we are very confident that the stadium will be ready first-class and the world will be happy with what they see when they get here,” Thompson said.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the LOC Lynden Maycock said that Breezes Hotel is the athletes village for CARIFTA.
“Breezes hotel hosted the world relays and past CARIFTA Games so they are up to the task,” said Maycock. “There will also be venues like the Courtyard by Marriott that will be in use, the Baha Mar Resort and Comfort Suites – so many of our major properties will be used with respect to the CARIFTA Games,” he added.
As for the broadcasting side of things, Maycock expects a top tier production from ALIV. The LOC has raised a little over half of their budget of $3 million. LOC said the LOC expects to meet their budgeted goal.
“The three million dollars operations of the games will be achieved through sponsorships as well as ticket sales and merchandising. We look forward to those funds accumulating to about $2-3 million at the sponsorship level,” said Maycock.
The LOC is 48 days away from venue readiness, according to Maycock.
“Our team is charged and energized. We’re working seven days per week. We expect for these games to be – like we say, we have a brand of the greatest youth games so we expect the greatest games for the 50th anniversary. Aligning ourselves with ALIV and companies like Oaktree Medical, we expect to be great,” Maycock said.
President of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Drumeco Archer is pleased with where the LOC is at in their progress and expects a great event. In terms of the athletic program’s progress, Archer is optimistic about the readiness of the team.
“We will have the best team that we’ve had in many years,” Archer said. “We have already seen significant progress within our athletics core. This weekend was a debut of what we expect and under frigid temperatures our athletes performed at a very high level. I was very pleased with some of the performances. We have already had some outstanding qualifying performances.”
The qualifiers so far are Kaden Cartwright (under-20 boys javelin), Mateo Smith (under-20 boys long jump), Javonya Valcourt and Lacarthea Cooper (under-20 girls 400 meters), Calea Jackson (under-20 girls discus), Taysha Stubbs and Kamera Strachan (under-17 girls javelin) and Terrell McCoy (under-17 girls shot put).
The official website for the CARIFTA Games is www.carifta50.com.