Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 11, 2023 (ZIZ Sports): St. Kitts Nevis Athletics is commending athlete Jaylen Bennett for his performance at the just concluded CARIFTA games in the Bahamas following controversy surrounding his Under 17 200m race.
According to a post on the SKNA Facebook page Bennett was not included in the original start list provided by the games but received a DNS (did not start) in the Men’s 200m finals.
The SKNA filed an official appeal and won. Bennett was given the opportunity to run an individual Men’s U-17 200 m final. The SKNA said he ran an “impressive time of 22.06 seconds..
However this time did not sit well with many of the fans as they said the timer on the race showed that he crossed the finish line before the 22 second mark.
In an exclusive interview with ZIZ President of SKNA, Delwayne Delaney explained that the time that viewers see is not regarded as the official time.
“When the clock is stopped, when we see the time, it’s usually manually,” he said. “And then it is corrected to the exact. So you might give or take, because of how the brain works and reaction time you might stop, generally, you might stop the clock late, manually. Until the technical persons are given a few seconds to adjust the time and you would have seen the photo finish image with a line coming across Jaylen’s torso and that’s where times are collected. That’s where the data is collected. From the torso.”
In a follow up post on its Facebook page, the SKNA said “We have confirmed by way of photo finish that Jaylen Bennett did run 22.06 seconds in his individual timed final. Although we are heartbroken by the difficulties surrounding this event we are extremely proud of Mr Bennett for not only capturing a silver medal in the U17 400m final but also for all of his contributions towards the success of team #unstoppableskn for the 50th Carifta Games.”
]]>Basseterre St. Kitts, March 15, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): As plans continue for the upcoming TDC Interschool and Rams Primary School Championships, St. Kitts Nevis Athletics has announced some new additions to this year’s event.
In an interview with ZIZ, SKNA Public Relations Officer, Patrice Harris said they are enlisting national artists to produce a half-time show.
She said “These scholastic meets are fundraising activities for our CARIFTA delegation. And we brainstormed and came up with the idea of a half-time show. Quite similar to what you would see for the NFL the Rihanas, the Beyonces definitely. Not of that magnitude, not of that scope but within what we can reasonable provide. And so we would have reached out to the Road March team, being the Rucas H.E. Empire and Dejour to have them come on additions to our half-time show on the Sunday.”
She said the SKNA has also partnered with a local promotional group for an after party after the high school championships.
“We have seen some new corporate sponsors coming on board and our latest addition has been Big People Party. They are in the entertainment industry and they have sponsored the half-time show and have added an after-party. So there’s an after-party on the Saturday night and an after-party on the Sunday night. So now persons get to enjoy a sporting event, in addition to after-parties that include all of the biggest names: The Sensia, EK, We have Kore Band coming over from Nevis, the Grandmasters Band, the Nu Vybes Band,” she said.
She said that the Primary School Championships will include activities especially for children.
“For the Rams Inter-Primary School Competition we have also included a Kids Zone. This includes fun activities for the children, which might be a bouncing castle, just so that this is definitely a family event,” she said.
She added “We have included these additions, again, because one of our goals, in addition to seeing improved performances by our athletes has been the overall enhancement of the product of the meets.”
The TDC Track and Field Interschool Championships will be held from the 24th to the 26th of March and the Rams Primary School Championships will be on the 1st and 2nd of April.
All events will be held at the Kim Collins Stadium.
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