By Anthony Foster in Grand Cayman
The women’s 100m will highlight the 3rd Cayman Invitational, organized by Cayman Islands’ track queen Cydonie Mothersill, and will be held at the Truman Bodden Stadium, on Wednesday 7 May 2014.
Jamaican Veronica Campbell, who won the World 100m title in 2007 and bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games, will start as favorite over American Allyson Felix and Ivory Coast Muriel Ahoure.
“You can expect us to compete hard,” said Campbell-Brown of the field, which also includes Great Britain’s Asha Phillip, Cristina Santos of Brazil, Jamaican Trisha Ann Hawthorne and Bahamian Cache Armbriste.
She added: “Expect good results tomorrow, it's a very talented field, and as you know we females love to compete against each other, we don’t like to shy away from competition … we like the competition because that is how we can do our best.”
As for Felix, she stated: “Recently I have had some soreness and tightness in my hamstrings. I am just dealing with that right now and being as cautious and careful as possible as I make my way back to the track.”
Ahoure, the World Indoor 60m silver medallist, said “this year for me is just trying to put both races together; the 100m and the 200m…I have had some problems in the past with my 100m and I'm trying to put the prefect race together, finally. It has been a challenge, but things are progressing well.”
The women’s 200m, 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles fields, are also of top class. In the 200m, American twins Miki and Melisa Barber along with compariot Jeneba Tarmoh and Porscha Lucas will line-up against Bahamian Anthonique Stranchan and Jamaican Sheri-Ann Brooks in a race that anyone can win.
In the 100m hurdles, American Virginia Crawford and Dawn Harper-Nelson will set the pace against Jamaicans Latoya Greaves, Andrea Bliss and Natasha Ruddock.
The women’s 400m hurdles, which can also go any way, will feature Jamaicans Ristananna Tracey, Shevon Stoddart, Nickiesha Wilson and Rushell Clayton, against last year’s winner Tiffany Williams and Kori Carter, who just missed a world leading time in Kingston.
The men’s 100m with hometown boys Kemar Hyman and Tryell Cuff against Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis and Keston Bledman of Trinidad & Tobago, should bring some excitement. Dexter Lee of Jamaica, Garvin Smellie, Adam Harris and David Hamil should also add to the excitement.
Also, in the men’s 200m Cuff will again take to the track, this time against Great Britain’s Delano Williams and Antigua’s Daniel Bailey, along with Daniel Talbot, Smith, Alonso Edwards and David Hamil.
In the men’s 400m, Bahamian Wesley Neymour, Trinidad & Tobago’s two-time Carifta Games Under-20 champion Machel Cedenio, Jamaican Dane Hyatt and Michael Bingham, should provide a good race.
Novlene Williams-Mills will set the pace for the women’s quarter mile field, which will include Jenna Martin, Bobby-Gaye Wilkins-Gooden, and Lanice Clarke.
Williams-Mills said she would not miss this meet for anything, “It’s my third time here, I always penciled this meet in my schedule. We don’t get to compete in front of Caribbean fans too often, so this is a great opportunity for us to compete for Caribbean fans.”
In the field, Jamaican Jovanne Jarrett will line-up against Shara Proctor of Great Britain, Kaymarie Jones, Tori Bowie and Tori Polk in the women’s long jump.
Several other races are listed on the programme for the local athletes. Action starts at 5pm and TrackAlerts.com will provide LIVE Blogging so please like our facebook page www.facebook.com/trackalerts and follow us on www.twitter.com/trackalerts
