Dear Editor,

A short visit to the Gold Strides track meeting at the Police Sports Ground on June 20 allowed me to witness some pretty impressive potential sports ambassadors. I have to single out the winner in the under 17 male 100m who stormed to victory like an Olympian in the finals. All I can remember is that this athlete is short and might have been the shortest of all in the race.

If his time for the race would have qualified him for any future overseas meeting, he would just have missed a golden opportunity, because the meet was not sanctioned by the AAG.

It’s really a pity that the organisers of the meeting and the AAG could not have sat and worked out a better game plan. The meeting appeared to be fairly well supported, even though the World Cup soccer matches were on, and it’s obvious that the million in cash and prizes was the appeal.

Another shocker was to realise that the GOA had had an Olympic run earlier in the morning which was also well supported. I don’t believe that most of the track clubs that were at the Gold Strides meeting had representatives during that Olympic staging. This should not have been, and maybe some persons don’t realise the importance of the GOA. I sincerely hope that wise decisions can be made in the future.

Yours faithfully,
T Pemberton