Tickets still available for games say organisers

–(CNS): Updated 2:35pm -The organisers of the CARIFTA games said today that there are still tickets available despite rumours stating they were sold out. Chairman of the CARIFTA Committee Rayle Roberts said the word on the street is not true only Grand Stand 3 day pass tickets had sold out. "We still have tickets available for the Mackie Seymour Stand and the bleachers," he added.  A list of ticket vendors can be found on the CARIFTA website which is www.carifta2010.ky More than 500 young athletes from 25 different countries will be coming together in the Cayman Islands this weekend for the games at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex. The region’s most promising young sports-persons will be running, jumping and throwing their way on to the medal table in front of what seems set to be a capacity crowd.

More than fifteen years since the annual competition, sponsored by the Caribbean Free Trade Association was last held in Cayman, the games draw considerable attention as they have been a testing ground for many of the Caribbean’s greatest athletes. Usain Bolt and Merlene Ottey as well as Cayman’s own Cydonie Mothersill, Kareem Streete-Thompson and Ronald Forbes all cut their athletic teeth by competing in these prestigious regional games.

Athletes compete in two age categories for boys and girls, Under 17 and Under 20, for track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track events, jumping and throwing events, and relays. The CARIFTA Games will also serve as a qualifying meet and springboard for Caribbean nation athletes competing for a spot in the first-ever World Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August.  

Three months after experiencing the earthquake, Haiti is expected to send a team to participate in the games. Organizers of CARIFTA and representatives from both private and public sector organizations in the Cayman Islands have been working together to raise funds to donate to the Haitian team, to assist with offsetting the country’s athletic federation costs of participating in games. Fund raising efforts will include a silent auction which will feature a pair of autographed track shoes signed by Usain Bolt, current World Record holder and past CARIFTA athlete.

For more information on the 2010 CARIFTA Games and the Cayman Islands, please visit http://www.carifta2010.ky/ or http://www.caymanislands.ky