All set for athletics rendez-vous |26 June 2013

According to Wilfred Adrien, the chief organiser of this auspicious event, his committee has every thing under control and are eagerly awaiting this event on Saturday.

“Everything is in place for this big sports event and though the pressure increases as the day approaches, everything is under control,” Mr Adrien said.
Mr Adrien, who has been part of the organising committee for many years, added that this event has involved a lot of preparation.

“We start our planning well ahead and things begin to intensify once the heats are over as we have to sort out the results to inform the schools,” noted the P.E coordinator.

Mr Adrien said such logistics as the transportation of athletes from the inner islands by boats and buses for the Mahé athletes and spectators, have all been taken care of.

“The Praslin and La Digue athletes will come over on the eve of the event and all accommodation  arrangements have been catered for. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the weather does not deteriorate especially for those travelling by boat,” Mr Adrien said.

As for this year’s grandiose sporting gala, Mr Adrien said that they have tried to shorten the event by withdrawing certain disciplines such as the medley races as well as the 1500 metre race for the post- secondary athletes.

This, he said, was to try and shorten the duration of the event so that it might not run more than six hours and will probably end by 4.30pm.

The technical committee of this inter-school athletics competition has already undertaken two dress rehearsals to fine-tune different aspects of the event to ensure that the day runs smoothly and all the protocols are made known to the participants.

“We are hoping for some good results once again and we have also introduced a Cup for the school that wins the most gold medals at primary, secondary and post-secondary levels as a means of encouragement for the students,” Mr Adrien revealed.

The inter-school athletics championships attracts over 1000 athletes and many more students and teachers who converge on the Stad Linite to witness our youngsters show off their talents in the main event that marks our Independence day.
Good luck to all athletes!