Jamaican Olympic legend Anthony Davis among time keepers

It has been a good first day for Kilmarnock Harriers with medallists in the 200m sprint event. Lauren Greig (U14) coming second, Cameron Wilson(U16) winning gold and Lorne Kerr (U18) coming 3rd and Roy Shankland (U20) winning silver, not to mention the PBs some athletes run today. Only field representative in the field event was Cara Baillie (U16) who cleared again 1.40 in the high jump.

However, most people were probably unaware that a former Jamaican Olympic sprinter, Anthony Davis, 1980 Olympian, was among the time keepers. Anthony Davis who had recently been introduced to Kilmarnock Harriers by coach George Morton after the pair met during a training event. Anthony was impressed by the choice of the name of the junior group, Cool Running, a name borrowed from a film telling the story of Four Jamaican bobsleigher’s dream of competing in the Winter Olympics.

What some people probably don’t know is that Anthony Davis is also the sports director at Jamaica’s University of Technology (UTECH), whose programs and facilities developed Bolt. People often are amazed how such a small country like Jamaica can produce so many World Class Sprinters. Anthony Davis pointed out that success did not come overnight but “You’d have had to plant a seed long ago to get where we are today.”

Let’s hope the seeds have been planted for Kilmarnock Harriers although noticeable signs are already visible. Compared to last year, Kilmarnock Harriers has increased the number of athletes competing at this event considerably and early signs show that our athletes can indeed compete successfully across the various age groups. Well done to everybody who competed today!

Apologies for not having managed to capture all of our competing athletes but Kuda’s dad and Colin were also busy shooting great pics (and they have high quality cameras by the way)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People interested in reading more about the subject of developing sprint or sports in Jamaica can read the below articles:

“Little Jamaica — our country is blessed with some of the best, if not the best, talent you can find.”