Over 2,400 athletes drawn from over 76 schools participated in the 5th renewal of the Douglas Forrest Invitational held at Stadium East on January 17.
Calabar, led by Osahne Bailey and Ramone McKenzie 22.06 & 22.23 respectively, made a emphatic statement that they will be a force at the April 1-4 Champs by capturing the first seven places in the 200m Class One boys as well as most of the events at the meet.
Kemoy Campbell of Bellfield destroyed the field in the Men’s 5000m open. in a time of 14:41.02. The newest sensation, Danielle Dowie of Wolmer’s, was the only double winner, taking the 800m for Class Two girls, in 2:22.38 and the 400m hurdles open in 61.37. She led her school which also made a loud and clear statement in the girls category as they won most of the female events. Their Andreene Rose, 26.52 sprinted to victory 26.52 in the 200m for girls Class Two; Kissi-Ann Brown (2:23.79) beat Antonette Grey of St Jago (2:29.31) in the Class III 800m ; whilst Keisha Wallace took the girls’ Class One 100m event in 14.73 ahead of Alpha’s Chene Townsend 15.28.
1968 100m gold medalist and the first man to run under 10 seconds over the distance, Jim Hines, was the guest of honour at the Meet. Statistician and member of the Douglas Forrest Invitational committee, Jimmy Richards was beaming with pride when MC Bobby Fray announced that his 71 birthday was on the same day of the Meet as well as coincided with that of Michelle Robinson Obama.
