Dear Sir,

In response to the letters which have been written, I must add my voice with those of Adrian Robson and others who are discontented at the administration of the Bermuda Track and Field Association.

I have been a track and field athlete since 1990. I have seen many athletes discouraged by this organisation, but I can only speak of my tribulations and I will point out two of many.

In October of 2000, written qualification standards for the CAC Track and Field Championships which were held in June of this year were released - 1:55.6 was the 800 metres standard.

In May of 2001, one month before CAC, I ran a time of 1:55.6. When I tried to confirm my qualification status, I was told quite snubbingly that they had dropped the qualifying time to 1:54.4 without any written or verbal notification to anyone.

By the way, I do pay my BTFA dues every year.

At the same time, they told 100 metres sprinter Xavier James that he would not be making the trip due to his time being wind aided, but decided to take a 5,000 metres runner who had not run track for at least two years and had missed the qualifying standard by more than 30 seconds.

It seems that some rules apply to some people but not others.

On to the CAC cross country championships. For the 2000 CAC cross country championships which were to be held in Colombia, a standard was set and we were told by Gerry Swan (national coach) that in order to go we must reach this standard.

No one did, not even Kavin Smith or Jay Donawa, Bermuda's finest. They decided to only take those two that year, disregarding the hard work and commitment that myself and others put in.

This year it was held in Bermuda. In the men's team, three of the six were said not to have made the mark.

As usual, the BTFA changed the rules again to suit themselves and allowed those three to run.

The men's team were used by the BTFA to try and shed a good light on the association. Next year it will not be held in Bermuda, so those of you who did not reach the standard, do not count on merit next year.This is the reason I chose not to run.

In closing, I have trained under the national squad from 1993 to 1999 and I have found that if you do not train under them and they cannot attach their name to you, they are not interested,

All one must do is look at the poor state of the sport and look at the productivity of the national squad, especially its senior athletes in the past 10 years to conclude that it is time for the resignation of national coach Gerry Swan and his sidekick, BTFA president Judy Simmons.

SHELDON M. THOMPSON

Dear Sir,

I had the pleasure of helping the BTFA with the CAC Cross Country Championships in November.

I was very impressed with the number of people that came out to assist. The 150 plus volunteers appeared to be from all walks of life in Bermuda, e.g. black, white, lawyers, painters, etc.

It is for this reason mainly I find Mr. Adrian Robson's December 3 Sports Editor's note somewhat irritating. He appears to be perpetrating negative where there was positive in order to make us, the running public, believe the BTFA and the national coach are not supported.

I like many others am glad to assist and do not share Robson's view point. If he was involved he would also appreciate the leadership and the expertise of people like Mrs. Judith Simmons and Gerry Swan who worked endlessly to make the event a success.

Robson also seems to be using the absence of a senior women's team as another one of his complaint shields.

The question we all need to ask ourselves is . . . Do we allow ourselves and sponsors to get discouraged by people like Adrian or do we continue to assist the BTFA who in turn help our kids and elite athletes to perform and become responsible citizens eventually?

A POSITIVE INFLUENCE