East Coast meet a big success, says Ayre

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

MEET ORGANISER Sanjaye Ayre has hailed last Saturday’s third staging of the Puma East Coast International Showcase in Baltimore, Maryland as a major success.

“The meet was a huge success this year. We had great build-up, we had some of the most talented young athletes on show and we made a major push for sponsorship in years to come,” said Ayre. The meet attracted more than 1200 athletes, a big improvement on the 540 at last year’s staging.

According to Ayre, planning for next year’s meet will start immediately.

“I think with the product we have now we will be engaging sponsors much earlier. Next week, I will be meeting with the board so we can go into early planning. I have been in contact with the Jamaica National Association, a non-profit group in Maryland. They will be helping to provide us with volunteers for the future as this will help with the operation of the meet,” Ayre added.

“We had some excellent performances at the meet especially from Quincy Wilson in the 400 metres. He ran a world leading under-20 time in the event and as a promoter you feel good when this is achieved at your meet and especially in a premier event like the 400m,” the Jamaica Olympian said.

He said, however, that the bad weather affected the overall performances at the meet.

“It was unfortunate that we had poor weather at the meet which affected the overall performances. We had a one week training camp for the athletes leading up to the meet where there was excellent weather, but this is something we have no control over,” stated Ayre who said the bad weather was a test for the athletes.

“The weather really affected the athletes and it ‘killed’ some of performances especially from the Jamaicans as they are not used to this type of weather and we saw where the athletes from the United States had a better showing as they are more used to those conditions,” he said.

“In years to come this will be the meet to be and I am very optimistic that come next year and beyond a lot of sponsors will come onboard,” Ayre said.