With the local track and field season kicking into gear with the Mile Reloaded event at the Flora Duffy Stadium on Friday, president of the Bermuda National Athletics Association, Freddie Evans, is looking forward to the performances of the island’s athletes at upcoming international assignments.

Bermuda’s junior and senior athletes will look to feature at a number of championships across the world, with the Carifta Games, World Athletics Under-20 Championships, World Indoor Championships and World Championships highlighting the calendar.

Evans welcomed the track and field campaign and says he is anticipating strong performances from the island’s representatives.

“We are excited about the possibility of Bermudian senior and junior athletes performing exceptionally well in all competitions. It has been a while since we had so many seniors ready, willing and able to represent Bermuda and compete for places on the podium internationally. I think our juniors will relish in the seniors’ success and do their level best to emulate them,” said Evans.

“I am cautiously optimistic that we can return to some normalcy. It is important to have a complete local and international season for the continuity of the sport,” Evans said.

One event that is expected to make a return this season is the Carifta Games, which is scheduled to take place in Jamaica April 16 – 18.

The championship – considered to be one of the top age group athletic events in the world – was originally slated to be hosted by Bermuda in 2020, but was postponed to 2021 before eventually being cancelled because of Covid-19 related concerns.

Evans, who admitted to still being disappointed that Bermuda was not able to host the event, underscored the value of the event for the region’s upcoming stars.

“World Athletics has recognised Carifta as the world’s strongest competition for U20s and U17s. Regionally, 90 per cent of the athletes competing in track and field in the Olympics participated in the Carifta games. In it’s nearly 50 years of existence, Carifta evolved into one of the jewels in the track world and it was sorely missed,” Evans told The Royal Gazette.

“Carifta is a tradition, a family event shared by millions worldwide. I am personally appreciative that Jamaica and the JAAA have step forward to host the games. A third year without this event would be catastrophic to its future.

As far as my feelings about the cancellation of the Bermuda Games, I was crestfallen. so many poured time, energy and sweat into producing the event. Past President (Donna) Raynor, the board of the BNAA, the local organising committee and sponsors worked for nearly three years and it is without a doubt that Bermuda would have been proud of the Carifta Games that they would have produced,“ Evans said.

He underlined that the biggest let down centres around the athletes who have missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"My biggest disappoint is for the Bermudian athletes who did not get the opportunity to compete in front of their home crowd. Some have aged out of Carifta and will never have the opportunity and others have aged into the senior categories and have not had the opportunity to compete for two years,“ said Evans.

He shared that while the BNAA is currently not considering putting its hands back in the air to host the event in the foreseeable future, it is not something that he would rule out entirely.

“We currently do not have any plans to host Carifta, but we don’t know what the future holds,” said Evans.

Meanwhile, the administrator expressed satisfaction with the recently-concluded cross country series, stating that he was pleased with the response from the local running community.

Four of Bermuda’s six medals at the last instalment of the Carifta Games, which took place in the Cayman Islands in 2019, were mined in middle distance events.

“Despite the limitations and restrictions caused by Covid concerns, we were very excited with the cross country turnout. We averaged one hundred participants for each event. We nearly had a two year hiatus from competitions so it was exciting to get back to action and watch the athletes from seven-years-old to over 60 years get out and get in a competitive run and have some fun,” said Evans.

“Our overall numbers are a little down, but that is to be expected. However, it is exciting to slowly get things back on track. But there is a buzz in air when everyone is out getting ready to run again,” Evans said.

Bermuda won six medals at the last instalment of the Carifta Games, which took place in the Cayman Islands in 2019.