The 2013 CARIFTA Games took place between March 30-April 1, 2013. The event was held at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas. A report of the event was given for the IAAF.[1] The games mark the seventh time in which the event was held in The Bahamas. The other years being 1976, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1992 and 2002.
Bidding Process
Bidding took place during the 2012 CARIFTA Games held in Bermuda. Initially four countries, namely the Bahamas, Barbados, the Cayman Islands and Martinique, had showed some interest in hosting the games. But ultimately Martinique withdrew its bid in favour of the Bahamas, and Barbados did not come forward with an official bid. The Bahamas was eventually chosen over the Cayman Islands to host the event. This was attributed to a myriad of reasons such as the newly constructed Thomas Robinson Stadium, the Bahamas's fortieth independence celebrations in 2013, and the fact that the country hadn't host the event in ten years.[2]
Venue
The 2013 Games will be staged in the 15,000 seater, thirty million dollar Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium. Fifty million dollars are being spent to beautify the area and upgrade utilities around the stadium, which is the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, in time for both the CARIFTA games and the IAAF World Relays.[3]
Austin Sealy Award
The Austin Sealy Trophy for the
most outstanding athlete of the games was awarded to Shaunae Miller, Bahamas.[1] She won three gold medals (200 m, 400 m, and 4 × 100 metres relay) in the junior (U-20) category setting a new 200m games record in 22.77s.
Records
A total of 7 new championship records (CR) were set.[4][5][6][7]