Bermuda Track & Field Association (BTFA) President Donna Watson has announced that the BTFA joins 161 other nations in participating in World Athletics Day!
The IAAF’s annual worldwide festival of youth, the IAAF World Athletics Day, one of the busiest programmes of competitions in the annual global Athletics calendar, remains as popular as ever, with 161 of the 213 IAAF Member Federations requesting to participate in 2010. Each of the countries will be holding this event some time during the month of May. This will be the first time in a long time that Bermuda will be participating and we are hoping to have a great turnout.
The IAAF World Athletics Day when it originated in 1996 was exclusively planned for youngsters who were members of clubs affiliated to IAAF Member Federations, but in recent years the scope of the project has broadened to include the participation of school children in individual and team competitions. With the addition of these two new categories, the World Athletics Day has become a complete and important event which annually promotes our sport around the world.
The goal of this year’s edition of the IAAF World Athletics Day is to firmly establish an important link between the youth, our sport, and environmental conservation.
Upon the recommendation of the IAAF Sustainable Development Commission, Member Federations have been strongly urged to implement the IAAF Green Project in association with the IAAF World Athletics Day, in order to help build the awareness of the youth on issues concerning sustainable development and environment protection. On that note we are hoping to plant a cedar tree somewhere at the National Stadium.
The IAAF World Athletics Day 2010 will be held Saturday May 22, beginning at 4:00pm at the National Sports Centre. All of Bermuda Schools Public and Private have been invited to participate in this meet. All of the regular track events will be held but we will be including a 4-6 age group 400m event for the little children and a 1500m for any athlete participating in the 24th May Marathon who may want a quick blow out to get them ready for Monday’s race. Additionally, the Bermuda Football Associations as well as all other National Sporting Bodies have been invited to encourage their athletes to participate in either individual events or entering a relay team in the 4X100m.
It is the IAAF Athletics’ World Plan as well as the BTFA to make Athletics the number one sport in schools, the World Athletics Day is also being organized in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. These athletic activities are open to Boys and Girls from 7 to 18 years old.
The first 100 athletes to register will receive a World Athletics Day tee-shirt and all participants will receive World Athletic Day participation certificate.
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