IN AN ATMOSPHERE focusing more on participation than competition, the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) and some of the island's junior athletes celebrated World Athletics Day last Saturday at the National Stadium.

Athletes from BC Trac, Rising Stars, Track and Field Academy (TFA), WIBISCO Stars, Pacers, Coleridge and Parry, Alexandra, Harrison College and Princess Margaret took part in the meet, along with some who competed unattached. They each received a commemorative T-shirt and a poster.

One race which garnered much attention was the Under-18 Girls' 100 metres where TFA's Tameka Rawlins (12.20 seconds) was chased to the line by 14-year-old Kenrisha Brathwaite (12.22) of Rising Stars. Since being injured earlier this year, Rawlins has struggled to regain the form she showed last year.

Brathwaite, a double CARIFTA bronze medallist, also had a good run in the 100-metres hurdles, clocking 14.55 seconds behind clubmate Kierre Beckles who was timed at 13.87, stepping down a notch from 84cm to 76cm.

All three of the boys who tackled the 110-metre hurdles broke the 15-second barrier.

Silver medallist Greggmar Swift of BC Trac won the race in 14.61 seconds, followed by Pacers' Shane Brathwaite in 14.91 and Rising Stars' Tyrell Forde in 14.96.

Raphael Jordan of Queen's College had two of the more encouraging performances among the younger athletes. Competing in the Under-16 division, he won the 80-metres dash in 9.40 seconds and the 100-metres hurdles in 14.73 seconds.

TFA's Shaquille Alleyne won the long jump with a leap of 5.55 metres, with Jerrad Mason of Rising Stars second with 5.04 metres.

Tanice Watson won the 80 metres in 10.50 seconds from Alexandra's Shakera Connell (10.80), and the 150 metres in 15.50 seconds, but had to settle for second place in the long jump (4.64 metres) behind Jalisa Burke (4.84m) of TFA.

In the field events, Kemar Holder-Edghill of BC Trac won the shot put (15.49 metres) and the discus (42.33 metres). However, the javelin throwers didn't compete as expected, with Trevor Ifill only managing 55.51 metres and Daneal Marshall 48.49 with the 700kg javelin.