President of Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) Judith Simmons has defended that organisation's fee increases, saying they are long overdue and in line with those of other sporting groups.

Amid some raised eyebrows in the athletics fraternity, the local governing body for athletics has adjusted its fee structure as follows:

individual athlete one-year registration - from $25 to $50 annually.

corporate fee - from $50 to $250 annually.

levy for the BTFA's sanctioning of events - from 20 to 25 percent of the gross entry fees for the said event.

Changes in the corporate fees and the levy take effect from August 1 (the start of the BTFA's fiscal year) while the athlete registration goes up from January 1, 2003.

"The fee for registered athletes has been $25 for a number of years and the corporate fee has been $50 since about 1992. There are a number of things we had to look at regarding bringing things up to date and making the BTFA viable and one of those things is finances," said Simmons.

"We keep saying we don't have any money and everybody thinks we have plenty of money but we don't. Our registered athletes have been paying $25 for a whole year and then just the entry fee for any races they enter. In the scheme of things, $50 a year is not a lot of money.

"We checked other sporting organisations - swim fees are about $500; bowling is $350 and in football and cricket, depending on what type of affiliation you have, it's $1,000 upwards. People go to a gym and pay a lot for an annual membership."

"We didn't see a jump from $50 to $250 being that much. Probably if it had been taken care of before we wouldn't have to make this large a jump but it wasn't and we need to do it now," reasoned Simmons.

While no-one has openly challenged the new prices, it is known that members of some athletic clubs have raised questions within their respective organisations. In fact, the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Club (MAAC) has requested information from the BTFA justifying the increases, especially given that the BTFA individual registration now exceeds the MAAC membership.

"I don't have a problem with it. They haven't raised the fees in quite a while and, now they are playing catch up, I think it's the level of the increase rather than the actual amount that's being questioned," said MAAC president Steve Conway.

Meanwhile, president of Bermuda Pacers Wayne Raynor said he had "no problem" with the increases but another athletics coach, who asked not to be named, had some reservation about the change in fees.

Simmons was somewhat surprised that the BTFA's decision had caused some grumbling since, at a meeting, BTFA affiliates said "they could see why the increases had to take place".

"We haven't had any word back from the club representatives to say there was a problem."

The president added there should hardly be any issue among the athletic fraternity as some athletic clubs have membership at $40 to $60 per year and that there is a particular one which charges $15 per month for training.

She also denied any connection between the increases and Bermuda's hosting of CARIFTA Games in 2004.

"The increases were discussed at executive level between January and March - before we even knew our bid to host CARIFTA would be successful. It was something that was necessary and it's nothing to do with CARIFTA."