分类： sports

The National Sports Council/BICO Primary School Football competition entered another round of group-stage action this Tuesday, with high-scoring matches and surprising upsets shaping the tournament’s latest narrative across four host zones across the country.

In the Dane Alleyne Zone hosted at Orange Hill, defending tournament champions West Terrace continued their ruthless title defense campaign with a dominant display of attacking football, crushing a outmatched St Matthew’s Primary side by a staggering 7-0 margin. The zone’s other two fixtures offered far more competitive drama: Welches and St Albans played out an end-to-end 2-2 draw that saw both sides snatch late equalizers, while Sharon Primary claimed a narrow 1-0 win over Good Shepherd to secure three crucial points in the group standings.

The most lopsided result of the entire matchday came in the Reginald Haynes/Victor Gas Clarke Zone at Blenheim, where home side St Giles Primary leveraged their familiarity with the pitch to hand St Patrick’s Roman Catholic School a punishing 9-0 defeat. Other results from the zone included St Paul’s Primary taking a 3-1 victory over Charles F Broome Memorial, St Cyprians claiming a clean sheet 2-0 win against George Lamming, and Luther Thorne Memorial securing a comfortable 3-0 win over a struggling St Ambrose side. The final fixture of the zone finished level at 1-1 between Belmont Primary and Wilkie Cumberbatch, splitting the points between the two squads.

Unlike other groups which saw drawn results, every fixture in the Keith Grell Griffith Zone produced a decisive winner on Tuesday. Wesley Hall claimed a tight 1-0 win over St Mary’s Primary, Grazettes coasted to a comfortable 4-1 victory against Lawrence T Gay Memorial, and Al Falah snuck past Trinity Academy with a 1-0 edge. Deacons also claimed a narrow 1-0 win over Westbury, while Eden Lodge secured the same scoreline against Eagle Hall to lock in three points.

The Adrian Donovan/Michael Foster Zone, hosted at King George V Park, also saw a flood of goals across its three scheduled matches. St Mark’s put in a polished performance to defeat St Martin’s Mangrove 4-0, Hilda Skeene delivered a crushing 6-0 blow to St Catherine’s Primary, and Reynold Weekes closed out the matchday with a 2-0 win over Bayley’s. As the group stage progresses, West Terrace’s early form cements them as the team to beat in this year’s competition, with other title contenders continuing to jockey for position in their respective groups.

One of the most anticipated stops on the 2024 Barbados Surfing Association calendar wrapped up over the weekend at Drill Hall Beach, where Joshua Burke reversed an early season setback to claim the Open Men’s title and Chelsea Tuach delivered a masterclass to take the Open Women’s crown at the third installment of the organization’s annual Surfer of the Year Series. The day of competition delivered some of the most electric, high-stakes surfing of the entire season so far, drawing crowds of enthusiastic onlookers to the popular Barbados beach to watch the island’s top talent go head-to-head.

For Joshua Burke, the victory marked a well-earned redemption after he finished just behind his older brother Jacob to take second place at the series’ opening event. He brought consistent, high-power surfing to every heat of the competition, and saved his best performance for the final. By the end of the final heat, Joshua posted a combined two-wave score of 17.66, anchored by a show-stopping single ride that earned a 9.33 from judges — a score that sent the watching crowd into excitement and solidified his place at the top of the podium.

Jacob Burke, the opening event winner, still turned in an impressive performance to finish second overall with a total score of 14.17, proving that the Burke family is a dominant force in Barbados surfing. Veteran surfer Bruce Mackie rounded out the podium in third place, while 14-year-old rising prospect Trent Corbin put in a strong showing to take fourth place in the Open Men’s final.

In the Open Women’s division, Tuach controlled the final from the opening horn, bringing a sharp, strategic approach and clean, powerful turns that set her apart from the rest of the field. She finished with a total combined score of 12.56, a result that served as a clear statement of her status as one of the region’s top female surfers. Amy Godson put in a determined effort to finish second, just a few points ahead of her identical twin sister Hayley Godson, who took third, while Chelsea Roett finished fourth in the final.

The competition also featured a full slate of results across additional divisions, with Jacob Burke adding a second trophy to the Burke family’s collection by taking a dominant win in the Open Longboard Division. He posted a 13.00 total to claim the top spot, with Noah Campbell finishing second, Tristan Brits third, and John Mulligan fourth. In the youth divisions, Tommaso Layson took top honors in the Under-18 Boys category, while Amy Godson picked up her second award of the day by winning the Under-18 Girls division. Christian Stoute claimed victory in the Under-16 Boys draw, and Kian Brits topped the field in the Under-14 age group. Rounding out the day’s results, Avery-Jai Watson won the novice division, and Simon Coles took the title in the Grand Masters Over-40s division.

A historic weekend of track and field competition has put Barbadian athletics firmly in the global spotlight, as three young domestic athletes delivered once-in-a-generation performances that rewrote national records and topped world junior rankings. Speaking exclusively to Barbados TODAY after the unprecedented results, national head coach Kierre Beckles — who also led the Barbadian squad at this year’s CARIFTA Games — says the breakthroughs are just the start, with all three athletes holding untapped potential to reach even higher milestones.

The first of the three record-breakers, 100m hurdler Adeyah Brewster, made history at the SEC Outdoor Championships, where she first matched Beckles’ own 12-year-old national record of 12.88 seconds in the preliminary rounds. Stepping onto the track for the final just hours later, Brewster shaved 0.02 seconds off the existing mark to clock 12.86 seconds and claim third place in the event. The new mark will be officially confirmed as a national record once it passes ratification by governing bodies.

Beckles, who set the previous record back in 2011, said she had long expected Brewster to claim the top spot, calling the achievement a question of “when, not if” given the hurdler’s unwavering consistency throughout the 2024 season. Benefiting from an extra year of collegiate eligibility, Brewster has posted multiple sub-13 second times this year, laying a strong foundation for her breakthrough. “My only worry after she tied the record in prelims was whether her body could recover in time to deliver another strong push in the final,” Beckles explained. “That 12.86 proves just how far she has come this season.”

Looking ahead, Beckles projects that Brewster can push the national record deep into the 12.6-second range if she stays healthy — a mark that would align her with top hurdlers across the globe and put her on track to qualify for major global competitions including the World Athletics Championships and Olympic Games. Upcoming events such as the Commonwealth Games and NACAC Under-23 Championships, Beckles says, are the perfect opportunities for Brewster to reach that next milestone.

Middle-distance runner Layla Haynes matched Brewster’s historic performance at the same SEC Outdoor Championships, becoming the first Barbadian woman in history to break the two-minute barrier in the 800m. Haynes clocked 1:59.38 to smash Sade Sealy’s 2019 previous national record of 2:02.23, capping a stunning rise for the young competitor.

Calling Haynes an “ultra-competitive” athlete always focused on raising her game, Beckles said the runner shares the same win-at-all-costs mentality that defined her own competitive generation, one that prioritizes success beyond collegiate competition and targets deep runs at major global championships. “Qualifying for elite meets is one thing, but advancing past the early rounds and competing with the best is another entirely,” Beckles noted. She added that Haynes’ tenure with the Florida Gators track program will continue to drive her improvement, and predicts the 800m record will fall even further in the coming seasons.

On home soil, under-18 shot put star and reigning CARIFTA champion Jayden Walcott delivered a performance that earned him the number one spot in global under-18 rankings. Competing at the President’s Classic hosted at the Usain Bolt Complex, Walcott notched a new personal best of 21.07m in the 5kg shot put, claiming the world-leading mark for his age group.

Walcott’s rise from regional standout to global leading prospect signals huge potential for the young athlete, Beckles says. “For Jayden to top the global rankings, not just lead the Caribbean region, says everything about what he can achieve as he moves into elite junior competitions like the World Athletics Junior Championships and NACAC Under-18 Championships,” she explained. With full backing from his coaching staff and the national athletics program, Beckles says fans can expect even more impressive results from Walcott in the near future: “Bigger and better things are coming for sure, that’s for certain.”