The Gibson Relays started in 1973 and it is generally accepted that the main driver in this development was Neville “Teddy” McCook. Hence the new name Gibson
McCook Relays. It evolved out of an examination of the famous Penn Relays. It is my understanding that Teddy and his team concluded that, given Jamaica’s strength in track and field, we needed to have our own similar festival or carnival, whichever is the preference.
It is not accidental that this event is seen by many as a Kingston College (KC) event. It is Kingston College that was the first Jamaican school that contested the Penn Relays and with great success. History should also recall that KC was instrumental in paving the way for Excelsior and other schools to participate in the Penn Relays.
This event is now dominated by Jamaican schools, to the extent that the Americans have, at times, wondered whether the representation is national as against individual schools.
The initiative to develop Jamaica’s own Relay Carnival came at a time when KC had been winning Boys Championship for eleven years in succession and would go on to win for fourteen straight years, an achievement yet unmatched. Teddy McCook proposed that KC take the lead, and given the dominance of KC, the idea of naming the relay event in honour of the erstwhile Bishop of Jamaica, but more importantly, founder and first Principal of KC. This contextual beginning, is not meant to rewrite the history of the Relays, as this has already been done by the erudite and most able Professor Verene Shepherd.
To continue to contextualize, when the Gibson Relays began, it was the premier “pre-Champs” event. In the early 1970s competitive opportunities were mainly confined to two or three schools organizing meets at their respective home grounds. The National Stadium was the only synthetic facility at the time and things remained that way until the 1990s. It was not until after the turn of the century that a number of developments took place, resulting in a major change in the track and field landscape, pun intended.
• A new track was laid at the G. C. Foster College in Spanish Town in 1998.
• This track was completely redone in 2015.
• The international performances of the track and field teams hit a new level after 2007.
• Professional track and field clubs were established and have continued to grow in size and numbers.
• A new synthetic track was laid at the University of the West Indies in 2010.
• The National Stadium tracks were upgraded in 2010-2011.
• A synthetic track was laid at Catherine Hall in 2003.
These developments resulted in local track meets moving from being just between a few schools. The Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) established development meets and with sponsorship from the private sector, meets multiplied over the years.
The Western Relay Carnival was established, along with numerous other meets at Catherine Hall and St. Elizabeth Technical High school, which has always had one of the better 400m grass tracks in Jamaica. Along with those facilities just mentioned, the G. C. Foster College, Jamaica College, Calabar High and Excelsior High, along with the National Stadium and Stadium East facilities became busy from as early as December.
These meets would continue up to the Boys and Girls Championships and so the Gibson McCook Relays (GMR) was no longer the guide to “Champs”. The brilliance of our athletes on the international stage, combined with the fact that track clubs were multiplying and locally prepared athletes were excelling, added to the excitement. The GMR managed to hold its own in spite of what could be described as the onslaught of competition. However, attendance waned and the questions began to be raised about the format.
The advent of the Diamond League and Grand Prix meets, designed for the media and concentrated over 2-3 hours have become popular and questions began to be raised as to whether the all-day format of the GMR was sustainable. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the GMR was the only major meet that managed to be staged as contact activity was banned. By 2021, the format had to be changed to just finals as stipulated by Health Officials.
The return to an all-finals format in 2026 has resulted in numerous questions from fans and aficionados. And so, the debate resumes; Should the GMR yield to the pressure of sustainability demands and become a “made for media” event? Or should the meet continue its development role of exposing talent from age 10
years upward? Clearly the organizers must now reexamine their mandate in the context of all the various developments in the sport. Financial viability must be a key issue as minds muse over the best format for the long term.
The decision makers would do well to canvass opinions from all quarters in their quest for the ideal format. Sponsorship can make or break in these circumstances.
The positioning of the event from a marketing perspective, is critical to the ultimate decision. The question remains as to whether the main media sponsor would be happy carrying an all-day event or just the finals.
Would the organizers be willing to continue the all-day format, with only the finals being televised live? Do the organizers want to maintain their role as talent developers by maintaining the all-day format? Would the organizers dare to contemplate moving to a Penn Relays format and make it a genuinely international event? This may sound preposterous but maybe the very thought would make Neville “Teddy” McCook sit up. After all, this was his initial ambition.
There is no harm in thinking and dreaming big