By Anmar Goodridge-Boyce
Athletes from Wesley Hall Primary School had set their eyes on capturing the National Primary Schools Athletics Championship (NAPSAC) title for two decades.
Their biggest dream came true on Friday when they stormed to a convincing boys’ trophy for the first time ever at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex.
The Wesley Hall warriors were crowned boys’ champions with a total of 117 points, beating the Luther Thorne hawks (83) and Bayley’s Primary (77).
And it’s a feat physical education teacher Kwame Ramsay has described as the school’s greatest sporting achievement.
“This is extremely special; I don’t think I have ever felt this way since being a teacher at the school. It is the best thing ever. Some may argue that Herman Griffith is the best and we are [accustomed to] winning, but this feels like a different level,” he told Barbados TODAY during an interview.
“It is special for the children who sacrificed and dedicated themselves to ensuring we won this title. It is not the first time we tried, but it is the first time we poured everything into it. This is for all the athletes, past, present and staff of the school, we all made sure this happened. It is also for the parents as well and all the supporters,” he added.
Remarkably, Wesley Hall warriors did not win a single track event for the finals but picked up valuable points in the field as Cazari Jordan took the top honours in the under-7 division with 20 points after winning the standing broad jump with a leap of 1.52 metres and bronze in the tennis ball throw with 22.50 metres.
Rajan Forde captured gold in the under-13 boys long jump with 4.59 metres and grabbed silver in the 100-metre event in 13.20 seconds.
Jaton Bryant secured silver in the under-13 boys shot put (9.24 metres) meanwhile, Khymani Carter (3.93 metres) took bronze in the under-11 boys long jump.
“The history started when we won the zone and we were very proud of that but this is an even greater feeling, we are ecstatic with the accomplishment and everything that went into it. Everyone that contributed, played a part and we are very happy.
“The journey was a long one and it began for the first time. I spoke with my fellow physical education teacher and we came to an agreement that we were going to put all of our energy into winning NAPSAC. We started work during the Christmas vacation and then we spent about five days a week practicing and we are happy with the work the kids put in and the support from the parents was absolutely amazing,” Ramsay said.
West Terrace were crowned girls’ champions again, edging Christ Church girls but seven points. Before the relays, Christ Church girls had a slender three point lead but they failed to win a single baton race while West Terrace took the under-11 girls 4×100-metre event in 1:00.48 seconds and claimed bronze in the under-13 4×100-metre relay in 57.12 seconds.
Coach Roderick Harmon said he was happy with the title defence.
“It is super. It’s a tremendous feeling especially as persons said in the early part of the day we weren’t featuring at all, I had no gauge as to where we were but I knew our relay teams would have pulled us back with the points. Kudos to the athletes who held their nerves and got the baton around the track. As our motto goes, excellence and success come only through diligence, I believe in hard work,” he said.
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