A Dream Come True

   BSW Delivers Regupol Track for Mona Campus

    The excitement was palpable as German track manufacturers BSW     handed over its signature blue Regupol track to the world’s fastest man,     the Hon. Usain Bolt, on Friday, April 30, 2010. Hundreds of persons     trekked to the Mona Bowl for the historic opening ceremony which took     place at the UWI, Mona Bowl for Sporting Excellence. The 400-metre     track was a gift to Usain Bolt, following on his recordbreaking runs on a     similar track at Berlin last summer, and was laid on land donated by     the UWI, Mona, which has been Bolt’s training ground for several     years.

    Mona Principal, Professor Gordon Shirley, noted that sports was     a     multi-billion dollar industry and that with proper facilities and     systems in place, there is immense potential for significant     earnings/benefits to redound to the Caribbean Region. He noted that     Jamaica had a solid tradition of sporting excellence as well as an     extensive pool of young talent.

  Against that background, Professor     Shirley remarked that the     development of the track was another plank  in Mona’s plans to

establish a first rate sporting facility on the campus. Mona’s mission, the Principal said, was “To have world class facilities for training, competition and     recreation, supported by a full range of complementary services and continuous research for the holistic development of persons with sporting career interests within Jamaica, across the Region and beyond “

He pointed to steps already taken, including agreements signed with Bolt’s Racers Track Club and the IAAF High Performance Training Centre for both entities to be based at the Mona Bowl, as well as with the Jamaica Football Federation for the establishment of a Football Academy at Mona. The Campus had also introduced a sports scholarship programme and initiated additional teaching and research programmes in sports.The Principal pointed to other initiatives in sports medicine, nutrition and testing. "We are also hoping to build a large multipurpose indoor facility, which will allow us to have all the court games, such as basketball, volleyball, netball... We have already expanded the swimming pool. We have put in the beach volleyball facilities, we are upgrading the cricket pitch and we are going to upgrade football fields which are used by premier league club August Town," he said.

Principal and CEO of BSW Regupol Ulf Poeppe, expressed delight at his company’s involvement, noting that the track was the most modern and sophisticated in the world, and would assist Jamaica to continue its dominance of world sprinting.

Racers head coach Glen Mills, who was instrumental in getting the track laid at UWI, expressed his gratitude to BSW and the UWI, noting that the track would be a tremendous boost to the Club’s training programme.

The handing over ceremony was chaired by Sports Development Director at the UWI, Olympic 200m silver medallist Grace Jackson, who said that efforts would now be made to raise funds to erect spectator stands for the facility.