The Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation (VITFF) has finalized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on track and field facilities owned by the V.I. Department of Education.
Since 1963 when the Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation was founded, it has had an unofficial relationship with the public (which owns the track and field facilities in the USVI) and private schools in developing track and field in the territory. There has been a great deal of success in preparing hundreds of students/athletes for inter-island competitions, athletic scholarships to colleges/ universities, and representing the territory in international competitions, including the Olympic Games.
To date, the VITFF, with the help of the Government of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee, the Department of Education and the many colleges and universities in the USA, has prepared over 50 Virgin Islands Olympic track and field competitors. These athletes have become unofficial ambassadors and productive citizens.
The Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation is the internationally recognized governing body for the sport (affiliated with World Athletics and the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee); it depends on access to three existing track and field facilities located at the St. Croix Educational Complex High School (SCECHS) on St. Croix, the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School (KHS) on St. Thomas and the Charlotte Amalie High School (CAHS), which is currently out of commission due to hurricanes Irma and Maria, on St. Thomas.
The government possesses World Athletics (WA) certified facility that can officially host sanctioned, international, high school and college standard track and field meets. (Presently, the only approved WA Class 2 track and field facility in the territory is at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.
When it was built, it was the only IAAF (now World Athletics) certified track at a high school in the world. The SCECHS track and the CAHS tracks are certified for high school competition. The difference between the KHS WA Class 2 track and the others is the length of the radius and the width of the lanes.
It was due to the effort of VITFF that the Kean track was built as a Class 2 track. The-then executive officials for VITFF, Ronald Russell, president, and Wallace Williams, general secretary, were aware that a track was to be built at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School and used it as leverage to construct a certified WA track and successfully bid for the hosting of the 2010 CARIFTA Junior Championships.
The MOU stipulates that VITFF Inc. agrees to advise and provide consultations to VIDE on matters associated with the department’s existing and future track and field facilities and give guidance to clubs, organizations, and entities requesting use of the track and field facilities for VITFF Inc. sanctioned track and field activities and Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (VIOC), and the Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation [DSPR] activities. The agreement additionally makes it possible for the VITFF to attract international competition and other track and field activities.
For example: in 2007 the VITFF successfully bid to host the CARIFTA Junior Track and Field Championship which is the premiere track meet for juniors in the world. Aware that a track and field facility was to be built at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, VITFF officials approached then-governor John deJongh with a request to approve the installation of an IAAF-certified track (the V.I. did not have a national track and field stadium) which would facilitate the VTFF in the hosting of the 2010 CARIFTA. Unfortunately, the economic downturn in the world economy forced the government and VITFF to abandon the hosting of the event.
To date, the Virgin Islands has hosted only one major international championship, the 1990 Central America and Caribbean Cross-Country Championship at the Flamboyant Race Track (now the Doc James Race Track) on St. Croix. In spite of the non-existence of adequate facilities, the V.I. has produced Olympic finalists, Pan Am medalists, world junior and youth medalists, and at least a half-dozen event world leaders.
Keith Smith, president of VITFF, said,“It has taken a while for the MOU to clear bureaucratic hurdles, but it means that not only does it solidify and formalize the relationship the government, it makes it possible for V.I. track and field to advance to a higher level. It is now eligible to receive more recognition and support from WA and the Olympic movement.”
