Photo Finish – local Athletics’ newest addition

The use of manual timing in Team Athletics SVG’s major track events in St Vincent and the Grenadines is fast becoming a thing of the past.{{more}}

Last Saturday, at the hosting of the local Track and Field body’s Relay Classics, staged at the Grammar School Playing Field, the latest in the organization’s acquisitions, the Photo Finish apparatus, was in full effect.

At Team Athletics SVG’s 2011 Presentation and Awards Ceremony last month, President Keith Joseph had announced that his organization was in possession of the timing equipment.

The cost of the entire kit has been put at EC$97,000.

Joseph revealed then, that it was through funds provided by the National Olympic Committee, that they were able to purchase the valuable piece of equipment.

It was a welcome move at Saturday’s Relay Classics, as it reduced the number of officials needed to spot and time.

Additionally, to make the process work, it meant that participants in the races had to register in advance for the respective events, so that the data could be electronically entered.

For many of the athletes, it was the first time they were experiencing the use of such technology.

But it will not stop there, as some of the primary and secondary schools’ Inter House Track and Field Meets will also get the benefit of the equipment, as TASVG gets it right for the National Inter Primary Athletics Championships and the Inter Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships.

Previously, TASVG used the services of such technology from a source out of Trinidad and Tobago.

At the 2011 Inter – Schools Track and Field Meet, the photo finish and electronic timing were also utilized, thus bringing the event up to minimal regional and international standards. (RT)