When competition at the ISSA Boys and Girls' Athletic Championships got under way on Wednesday at the National Stadium, one of the most crucial events was run with the opening round of the 4x100 metre relays taking place.

Over the years, the relays at Champs have played a major role in determining the outcome of the meet. With the competition in both categories expected to be very close, teams cannot afford any mishaps. Unfortunately, however, several of the top teams on Wednesday did run into obstacles and there were some disqualifications which could come back to haunt coaches tomorrow night.

close contest

One of the teams to have suffered the most over the years from baton exchange foul-ups has been Edwin Allen and with the team touted to have the potential to unseat defending and seven-time champions Holmwood Technical in a close contest, they needed little or no mishaps in their quest, but this was not the case.

After a close call in the Class IV relay, the Michael Dyke-coached team was disqualified in Class III as after having a commanding lead after the first three legs, the athlete on the anchor leg ran out of the exchange zone and the baton was not passed.

Luckily for the Edwin Allen team, their main rival, Holmwood Technical suffered the same fate in Class I, as their runners on the second and third legs had difficulties, which they failed to correct leading to them finishing way down the track.

lost advantage

Holmwood definitely failed to take advantage of Edwin Allen's earlier mishap and they could be the worse off for it. St Jago High and Manchester High also had problems in Class III and also failed to advance.

It was the same story on the boys side as title-contender Wolmer's suffered a major blow, which could hurt their chances in a big way. With the competition expected to be much closer among the boys, with KC, Calabar and Wolmer's, the favourites, no team could afford any errors.

After finishing a close second to St George's College at the Gibson Relays, Wolmer's Class I team was expected to win or finish in the top two this weekend, but they dropped the baton on the second exchange and failed to recover despite their anchor-leg sprinter running his heart out. The mishap was a big blow for the Heroes Circle team as both Kingston College and Calabar advanced to all finals in the sprint relays.