St. Jago's Yohan Blake leads his competitors in the 4x100m at last year's Gibson Relays at the National Stadium. St. Jago will be another favourite in the 4x100m and 4x400m at this year's meet on Saturday. - Ricardo Makyn

Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

All this week 'Star Sports' will provide in-depth previews of this Saturday's Gibson Relays which will be held at the National Stadium.

If you had planned to go anywhere on Saturday apart from the National Stadium to watch the Gibson Relays, forget it, because you wouldn't want to miss the boys' sprint and mile relays.

Yes, you may be asking why the boys' relays when the world's fastest man, Asafa Powell, and the world's top female sprinter, Sherone Simpson, are scheduled to run. But the answer is, you would only be watching them race against the clock.

The boys' 4x400m relay is always seen as one of the hottest events at any championship and especially with Calabar, Kingston College (KC), Wolmer's, St. Jago, and maybe Jamaica College (JC) competing, anyone can win this event.

Not even Bertland Cameron, the man who has held the 400m record at this event for over 20 years, and the same man who won Jamaica's first ever gold at a World Championships, can call this event.

"It's going to be something to watch - I have not seen this (so many top teams) in a long time," he said of the Security Administrators-sponsored event.

As for Wolmer's, which he coaches, Cameron said: "We have a team. Last week we ran 3:13, Jago was ahead with 3:12 and Calabar ran 3:11 on Saturday, and Camperdown and KC don't run yet, JC too, also has a good team. It's going to be competitive."

St. Jago's Danny Hawthorne is very optimistic about his team's chances, especially with the inclusion of World Junior 100m bronze medallist Yohan Blake.

His team ran 3:11 to win at the Camperdown Classics and a confident Hawthorne boasted, "We walked 3:11".

As for his team's chances, he said: "Always great. As long as we are here to perform there is a chance of us doing great."

As for KC, they are without Andre Wellington but coach Lennox Graham said they will also be in the mix.

"The 4x400m is shaping up nicely. It's going to be a very good 4x400m and probably one of the fastest 4x400m in a while.

"KC team is right up there in the 4x400m - we are not going to discount out quarter milers. They are working well and we expect any 4x400m we come to run, we are going to be there," said Graham.

KC's team could include Cawayne Jervis, a member of Jamaica's World Junior 4x100m winning team.

Camperdown, with ace sprinter Remaldo Rose, are also in with a shot at the title. Their coach Jermaine Chan says, "Based on what we have seen in the last two meets, it's the event to watch, it's going to be a very fast race."

Manchester High (3:18.90) beat Herbert Morrison (3:19.60) at the Westerns Relays, but the fact that they are not in the 3:12 region doesn't augur well of their chances.

Expect hot 4x400m

As usual, the Class One boys' sprint relay, sponsored by The Art Printery, will be too hard to call.

Calabar, St. Jago, Kingston College (KC), Jamaica College (JC), Camper-down, Wolmer's and Herbert Morrison, yes Herbert Morrison, a non-traditional high school out of Montego Bay, are the top teams.

Herbert Morrison not only forced themselves into contention, but also have become the targeted team to beat following their Milo Western Relays victory two weekends ago. It may be argued that Calabar, KC, St. Jago, Wolmer's and JC did not run at Western Relays, but with Dexter Lee in the team, Herbert Morrison's coach Claude Grant believes they can repeat their Western Relays success.

"The team will remain the same - they should run equally as well as they did at Western Relays," he said of his 41.20 victory over Holmwood (41.56).

However, he added: "We will have a good team, but I will not push the team to the brink, because we have Western Champs next week Tuesday."

St. Jago's Danny Hawthorne, who watched his boys run 40.0 at the Camperdown Classics, said: "I am always looking out for my team and my chances are always great. I have great athletes and they will give you great performances."

Wolmer's and KC, on the other hand, are not that optimistic, but their coaches believe they will be among the contenders.

"I think we can compete with the top teams, but as to where we are going to finish, I don't know. We, on any given day, can win," said Bert Cameron, Wolmer's coach.

According to KC's Lennox Graham, "We will be in there, and we will be mixing it up so that we can get an exercise out of it.

"It's a very deep field. It's going to be a very good race - of course we are KC so we are always going to be in it," he added.

Based on earlier results, it could be Calabar and St. Jago fighting for the top-two spots. Though a bit longer than what they will compete in on Saturday, Calabar took both Classes One and Two in the 4x150m events at the Howard Jackson Relays in Morant Bay. They won the Class One event in 1:05.9 ahead of St. Jago (1:06.1).

-A.F.

Feedback: anthony.foster@gleanerjm.com