The 38th CARIFTA Games opens tomorrow at the George Odlum Stadium with a new look and the high-powered Jamaican aggregation poised for yet another table-topping display.
Usually contested over three days, the world-class event is a four-day meet this year with a later daily start time and no afternoon break.
Games accommodation is booked for hotels in the north of the island - Rex Saint Lucian, Village Inn and Spa and Bay Gardens - and the George Odlum Stadium in Vieux Fort is approximately an hour away.
After an unfamiliar evening session on Good Friday, competition on the following three days will start at 11 a.m., two hours later than usual and this format is expected to reduce the stress on the competitors, whose daily travel for the meet far exceeds the normal journey.
"These changes became necessary because of the logistics of travel, having the stadium in the south and accommodation in the north," IAAF technical delegate Esther Maynard told CMC Sport yesterday.
The meet will be contested on a new Mondo surface laid in recent weeks and Maynard praised organisers' readiness as first-time hosts.
Over 600 athletes and officials from 21 countries are arriving for the meet.
The St Lucians will be represented by a contingent of 51 athletes, but heavy favourites are the perennial champions Jamaica, who strode to their 24th consecutive table-topping per-formance last year in St Kitts, tallying 69 medals - 29 gold, 25 silver and 15 bronze.
Traditional top contenders Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas are expected to provide the stiffest challenges for the Jamaicans, whose top juniors warmed up for the meet with several solid performance at their local high-school championship in Kingston last weekend.
Intriguing battle
Their contingent will not include IAAF World Junior and World Youth champion Dexter Lee, who suffered an injury last weekend but his replacement will be the outstanding Nickel Ashmeade, a 200-metre silver medallist at the World Juniors last year and silver and bronze medal winner from the World Youth Championship.
The 200-metre World Youth champion Ramone McKenzie is also in the Jamaica squad.
One of the more intriguing battles at the meet will be the Boys' Under-20 middle-distance clashes between the gifted Trinidadian Gavyn Nero, an eight-time CARIFTA champion and the in-form Jamaican, Kemoy Campbell.
The heats of the 100 and 400-metre events will be among the opening events tomorrow evening.