By Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

St. Jago's 4x600m quartet (from left) Yanique Haye, Peta-Gaye Hamilton, Tameka Porteous and Ichama Dawkins with their gold medals after winning the Class Two event at last year's Sports Plus/4; Howard Jackson Relays. - file

Action in the 2007 local track and field season moves to eastern Jamaica with the 22nd staging of the Howard Jackson Relays at the Paul Bogle Junior High School, in Morant Bay, St. Thomas.

The preliminaries start at 9:00 a.m. while the finals are set to start at 2:10 p.m.

Secretary of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), Garth Gayle, who is the meet director, expects 'excitement, excitement galore' at this year's meet.

Gayle said the meet would be a preview of what to expect at the February 24 Gibson Relays at the National Stadium and Penn Relays in Philadelphia (April 26-28).

"It is set for an exciting gala and we are expecting a full day of excitement," added Gayle.

The top five boys and girls schools from the inter-secondary championships are down to compete. Defending boys' champions Kingston College, Calabar, Jamaica College, Wolmer's and St. Jago will be there. Girls' champions Holmwood will be joined by Vere Technical, Edwin Allen, Immaculate and Manchester.

Though they did not finish in the top five last time, four-time champions St. Jago girls, Queen's School, Alpha and St. Andrew should be in the mix among the girls, while Holmwood and Camperdown will also do well among the boys.

Host school, Morant Bay should also be in the mix as they will be hoping to upset some of the more fancied schools and provide some excitement for their supporters.

The events to be contested this year are 4x150m and 4x300m in all classes and the 4x600m for classes one, two and three and the distance medley open.

The clubs and institutions led by MVP, University of Technology (UTech) and G.C. Foster College, EXED, Racers and Jamalco Track club will compete in 4x150m and 4x300m events, while the primary athletes will run the 4x150m, and junior high 4x300m.

Feedback:

anthony.foster@gleanerjm.com