The second staging of the Island Games (IG) in track & field athletics will feature no fewer than a dozen elite or championship events showcasing high schools and Olympic Development level athletes from a least five countries not including the USA and Jamaica.

Patrick Payne, Founder/Executive Director of the Island Games, told last week’s press reception that at last count, more than 400 quality athletes, most of them national juniors will participate in the one day sports meeting at the Mitchel Field Athletic Complex in Uniondale (Long Island), New York, on Sunday, June 10, 2007.

The programme will open at 9:00 am with the preliminary (heats) rounds of competition.

Coming off very impressive performances at the Junior Carifta Games in the Turks & Caicos Islands in early April and at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia in late April, Payne said that the Island Games will give a number of teams another opportunity to show their true colours in the relays championships and a handful of the individual (flat) events.

A very upbeat Payne, said that with Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas, Bermuda and St. Kitts all expected to send strong contingents to the Island Games, which will double as a showcase of Caribbean pride in sports, coming as it is in June which is being celebrated nationally as Caribbean Heritage Month.

In an effort to link the past with the present, Island Games will recognize the 1964 Kingston College team, the first such team from Jamaica to ever participate at the Penn Relays. The team of Rupert Hoilett, Len Tulloch, Lennox ‘Billy’ Miler (deceased),Troy Grant and Tony Keyes will be honoured during opening ceremonies at midday after the preliminaries and before the start of the finals.

Also to be honoured during the opening ceremonies is Wendell Mottley, one of the most outstanding runner to come out of Trinidad & Tobago. Nassau County (Long Island) Executive Tom Suozzi will then declare the Games open after messages from the Hon. Dr. Basil K. Bryan, Consul General of Jamaica and Hon. Wayne Hall Sr., Mayor of the Village of Hempstead, who are both patrons of the IG 2007.

Corporate partners for the IG 2007 include; Royal Caribbean Bakery/Caribbean Food Delights/JerkQzine; Northfork Bank; Bestsellers Bookstore/JamStar Enterprises; News 12 – Long Island; Air Jamaica; New York Carib News; Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill.