CARIFTA 2021 Track and Field Championships cancelled

For the second year running the CARIFTA Games have been cancelled.

The 49th edition of the Games, which was scheduled to be held in Bermuda in August, was cancelled because the host country was not willing to amend its COVID-19 regulations to accommodate athletes arriving for the competition.

Guyana is scheduled to host the Games in 2022.

See below statement from Secretary of North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC), Keith Joseph.

Following on from the Information Session with the CARIFTA Family held on Saturday 17 April 2021, subsequent emails and other communications with the leadership of the member federation of Bermuda (BNAA), the Local Organising Committee of CARIFTA 2021, the Bermuda government and the NACAC Council, NACAC officially regrets to inform you that the CARIFTA Games for 2021 is cancelled.

NACAC understands the impact that another cancellation of our premier annual junior competition will have on our young athletes. Unfortunately, we have carefully taken all factors into consideration and are left with no option, but to cancel the CARIFTA Games 2021.

The Bermuda authorities have made it clear that the 14-day mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated athletes is non-negotiable. While Bermuda allows athletes from 16 years to be vaccinated, the majority of our CARIFTA Family members are in countries where the authorities only allow vaccination for persons 18 years and older.

We cannot host the event without the Under 17s, who, from our vantage point, are as integral to the event as the U-20s.

We are not agreed to having an edition of the CARIFTA Games that does not engage the traditional categories and which disenfranchises a significant number of athletes.

NACAC, while understanding the changing circumstances and attendant protocols in Bermuda, necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, is also cognisant that accommodation agreements made thus far have been well below the required number of rooms for the traditional CARIFTA

Games and that this is unlikely to change.

This suggests that for much of the planning since the postponement from the traditional Easter weekend, accommodation has been a problem for the LOC.

Finally, we are also aware that the government is not prepared to facilitate any additional funding to the Local Organising Committee at this stage, for the realisation of the Games.

This, therefore, leaves individual member federations and NACAC in a very precarious position relative to the CARIFTA Games 2021 being of an order consistent with its long history. NACAC apologises to the membership for the cancellation of this year’s edition of the CARIFTA Games.

Keith Joseph,

General Secretary, NACAC