The issue of track and field athletes paying to use the National Sports Centre to train remains unresolved, with track clubs finding alternative venues.

For Donna Watson, the Bermuda National Athletic Association president, it seems like track and field has gone full circle in Bermuda, back to the Seventies and Eighties when athletes trained on grass for running events. She believes not paying to train at the NSC is a matter of principle, and finance, for the clubs.

Refusing to be assuaged by a recent explanation from Sean Tucker, the head of the NSC board of trustees, Watson has taken her concerns to Wayne Scott, the Sports Minister.

“Last week was so stressful for me,” Watson said. “Coaches were calling and e-mailing me asking, ‘What do we do? I was totally stressed out by Friday and that’s why, when I got up on Saturday morning, I wrote that e-mail to the minister.”

A former middle-distance runner who attended college on a track scholarship, Watson recognises the benefits of training at the stadium.

“We’re not using it to train, all of our clubs are finding school fields, or just fields, to train and we will basically just use it for our track meets,’ Watson said.

“Track and field has always been my passion and will never stop being my passion. This is why the situation with the National Sports Centre has really got me upset.

“I sent the minister a letter and told him I wake up with a heavy heart because all my coaches are running around trying to find somewhere for their athletes to train.

“Our sport is small and we don’t pull in that sort of money. Like I said to him, why it hurts me is I never paid to run, but I got an athletic scholarship and travelled the world and I’m still travelling the world. Now, looking at these children who have to pay, it cuts a little deep for me.”

Watson admits that training away from the stadium is not the ideal preparation for upcoming overseas meets, including the Carifta Games in Martinique in April, for which six athletes have already reached qualifying standards.

“My concern is that this doesn’t hurt our athletes as they are preparing,” she said. “From our standpoint, it is not resolved; we just don’t have the money. We don’t have that many people at track meets where we can say we’ll charge people to come in to watch our meets.

“We have about 30 athletes competing and we’re not like football or cricket where we have a local league.

“Most of those kids are up there only to try to qualify for international events, not to compete against each other. That’s what our sport has always been about. If you are up there, you are there trying to represent Bermuda.”

There are eight track clubs who use the stadium from Monday to Thursday for training, with meets held on the weekends. “I know some of the clubs are meeting with the NSC, but the BNAA said we’re not paying,” Watson said.

“We have put it into the clubs’ hands, for them to make the decision if they can raise the money to use it [stadium]. So far, most of them have gone and found alternative locations.

“We have enough on our plate, with all the international meets that we have to pay for. Even tickets for Martinique are not cheap, the meets we are going to are far away and we’re paying thousands of dollars. Then we have to get uniforms and send coaches on courses.

“I’ve had conversations with people about maybe finding a sponsor, and that’s all well and good, but deep down I still have a problem with my athletes having to pay ... out of principle.

“What was the track built for? You have a long jump pit, high jump, throwing facilities. It wasn’t built for the general public; it was built for track and field athletes to train.

“The only reason the facility is there is because of Clive Longe [the deceased former national coach]. He trained on grass and I feel like we’ve gone full circle, with our athletes back training on grass.”