Jamaican Athletics

For a country of under three million people, Jamaica's record in sprinting is extraordinary, and it is not an accident of talent alone: the structure that produces it is the schools system, and its centre is the Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Athletics Championships, universally called Champs, held over four days at the National Stadium in Kingston since 1910. Thirty thousand people fill the stands, schools bring bands and chants, and the atmosphere is closer to a football derby than a track meet. Almost every Jamaican Olympic sprinter came through it as a teenager. The rivalry between the traditional schools is fierce and generations deep.

The main sights

• Champs - four days of schools athletics in a full national stadium.
• The school rivalries - Calabar, Kingston College, Edwin Allen and the rest.
• The National Stadium - and the statues of Jamaican champions outside.
• The club tracks - where the senior athletes train, some open to visitors.

When to go

Champs is held over four days in late March or early April, with the finals on the last day the hottest ticket. Tickets go on sale weeks ahead and the finals sell out. The Racers Grand Prix and other meets run in the summer.

Good to know

Champs finals sell out and resale prices are steep; buy early. The stadium is hot, the days are long and seating is basic. It is a schools event, so the standard varies enormously between heats. Outside Champs and the summer meets there is little to watch, and stadium tours are limited.

Nearby

The National Stadium is in central Kingston; Devon House is fifteen minutes north.