Ryon Jones, Star Writer

Many-time national hurdling champion, Maurice Wignall, has taken it upon himself to aid in the development of hurdling locally by staging a four-day coaching clinic.

The clinic is tentatively set for the May 25 to 28 at the Stadium East track.

The two-time Commonwealth gold medallist hopes to secure the country's continued success in the particular event, subsequent to his retirement from the sport.

"I am actually on the way out and it dawned on me that if I was to stop doing track now, we would be one short and the representation for Jamaica would not be as it ought to be," Wignall told Star Sports.

"We have many persons trying to do the 100m and 200m and a lot of them were hurdlers before, so what we want to do is give some awareness and excite some passion from some of the kids."

"Maybe they will continue beyond just high school and primary school and go on to the elite level; we could be more competitive and more dominate in every event," he added.

top hurdling coach

The 35-year-old, who is a two-time Olympian and a seven-time World Championship representative, will be partnering with top hurdling coach, Fitz Coleman.

Coleman is one of the most respectable hurdling coaches locally, who has travelled with a number of Olympics and World Championship teams.

"It is a hurdles clinic; so it will look at techniques, transition between hurdles and different aspects of hurdling," Wignall explained. "It is a clinic workshop; if the coaches have issues with particular athletes, we can address those issues. If they just want to know general stuff, that type of knowledge is available as well. So we are here to cover whatever we can in the time that we have the clinic," he added.

The clinic, which will be free to the public, will be opened to all interested parties and there are already talks of other clinics being held.