FORT DE FRANCE – After a slow start, Barbados finished third in the medal standings at the 43rd CARIFTA Games.
Team Barbados won five gold, five silver and six bronze for a total of 16 medals. Jamaica once again topped all performances with 88 medals (42-34-12) and Trinidad and Tobago were second with 25 (6-7-12). Guyana finished fourth with three gold and one silver.
Barbados were fourth last year with four gold, 14 silver and two bronze medals, but plans to convert some of those silver medals into gold did not materialise.
The biggest change in the medal tables was by Team Bahamas who fell from second last year when they hosted (8-10-13-31) to seventh with 20 medals, but only one gold.
Meanwhile, Barbados’ two final medals in the late evening session were a silver medal by Shamar Rock in the Under-20 boys’ triple jump and a bronze by the Under-18 girls’ relay team of Shonita Brome, Sada Williams, Jaria Hoyte and Tiana Bowen.
Rock had been leading the competition with 15.39 metres and seemed set to win his second gold medal before Odaine Lewis of Jamaica leaped 15.49m and took the gold. Visibly disappointed, Rock had to settle for silver, while the bronze went to Clayton Brown, also of Jamaica, with 15.30m.
Although Brome tried hard, Barbados finished the first lap in fifth place, but Williams showed why she was the 400m champ, bringing the team into second place by the time she handed off to Hoyte.
Despite slipping to third, it was a gutsy run from Hoyte against older competitors, and Bowen brought it home in 3 minutes 41.90 seconds. Jamaica took gold in 3:37.64 and The Bahamas silver in 3:39.65.
The Under-18 boys, who had qualified for the final third overall, did not start after Ramarco Thompson reportedly got injured while warming up. Jamaica won in 3:12.63.
Jamaica also won the Under-20 girls’ race in 3:38.20, but had to settle for second among the Under-20 boys after 400m champion Machel Cedenio dismissed their anchor to clock 3:06.03. The Barbados team of Joshua Walcott, Levi Cadogan, Akeim David and Tre Hinds finished fourth in 3:18.33.
Earlier, Joshua Hunte was seventh (16:48:51) and Dario Grandison ninth (16:56.10) in the 5 000 metres.
Romario Antoine (47.96) and Dequan Lovell (42.99) finished fifth and seventh, respectively in the Under-20 Boys’ discus.
Josiah Beckles leaped 6.83 metres to finish seventh in the Under-18 boys’ long jump which was won by Obrien Wasome of Jamaica with a record 7.66m.
