Troy Douglas, the Bermuda National Athletics Association (BNAA) head coach, has pulled out of the trip to Martinique for the Carifta Games, leaving jumping coach Rohaan Simons to come in as a late replacement.

Douglas confirmed yesterday that he had come down with a virus and is unable to travel with the team which departs today, saying the condition has restricted his walking.

Simons will be accompanied by sprint coach Devon Bean while Daltonell Minors is the team manager.

Douglas believes that Simons’s inclusion is a boost for the jumpers in the squad.

“At the last minute I’ve had to pull out because my foot has swelled up and I can’t travel with that,” Douglas, a four-times Olympian, said. “But I’m not going to miss a beat because I’m always in close contact with Devon and Rohaan.

“I’ll be home this weekend glued to my laptop and up to the last start shot I’ll be on the computer working and following the Carifta highlights.”

Ten of the thirteen team members will leave Bermuda this morning and will be met in Martinique by Justin Donawa, Dage Minors and Chas Smith who are in school abroad.

Douglas is confident that Bermuda’s team will make a strong push for medals at the annual event, which starts on Friday with the opening ceremony before competition takes place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

“Everything is very positive, we have a very positive team with only one athlete [middle distance runner David Darrell] going for the first time,” he said.

Douglas gave credit to the other BNAA coaches such as Simons, Bean, Terry Lynn Paynter and Sonya Smith, the throwing coach, Jarita Vickers, a middle distance coach, Jay Donawa, the long distance coach, Mike Watson, a middle distance coach, and jumping coach Brian Wellman for helping prepare the Island’s athletes.

“They’ve all played an important role in developing our athletes and preparing them not only for Carifta but the long-term plan in the next five years,” said Douglas.

Douglas, in his second year as national coach, is not surprised at the continuation of Bermuda’s trend to produce middle distance runners and jumpers these days, rather than sprinters.

“When we had the successes of Cal Dill, Debbie Jones and Gregory Simons and Norbert Simons in the early days of Carifta, we were about ten years ahead of our time but it has shifted,” he said.

“Basically Bermudians are not good sprinters, but better at middle distance and jumping. The average Bermudian can run May 24 like there is nothing to it.

“We have three high jumpers going down and a middle distance team from 400 to 1,500 metres.”

High jumper Jahnai Perinchief set a personal best leap of 2.10 metres at a meet on Saturday and will be one of the medal contenders in the under-18 boys.

Also strong contenders for medals will be Donawa and Kyrah Scraders, who were recently crowned the Junior Male and Female Athletes of the Year and who have won medals at previous Carifta Games.

Sakari Famous could also add to the silver medal she won in the high jump last year in the Bahamas.

“I just want them to perform the best they can perform,” Douglas said. “When an athlete walks off the track I always give them 30 minutes to themselves, just to go over what they’ve done.

“Then I’ll come over and we’ll do a warm down together and then I want to hear what he or she has to say.

“One thing I’ve learned is when you go into a meet everybody is starts at zero, so we all have a blank sheet of paper and it is up to us what kind of story we want to write.”

Added Douglas: “There are athletes who should be coming back with medals, and there are going to be some great performances coming from our athletes. I just want to see at the Carifta Games what I’ve seen in the last three or four track meets, but at about 10 percent higher.”

Bermuda’s athletes covered themselves in medal glory at last year’s Carifta Games. They finished a respectable seventh in the table, with one gold, two silver and one bronze.

Team Bermuda: David Darrell, Justin Donawa, Kionje Somner, Michaiah Robinson, Azaire Smith, Taahirah Butterfield, Tiara DeRosa, Kyrah Scraders, Dage Minors, Daniel Oatley, Jahnai Perinchief, Chas Smith, Sakari Famous.