Last month in Kingston, Jamaica the 49^th staging of the CARIFTA Games took place at the National Stadium.  The Games were originally founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association with the first occasion of the Games held in 1972 on the island of Barbados.  This year’s staging of the Games was endorsed by the the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC).  It was the eighth time that the Games were hosted by Jamaica.

Normally an annual sporting event, there was a two-year gap between this year’s staging and the last due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.  The Games features a multitude of different track and field competitions, including sprint races, middle distance races, and hurdles races.  So too, high jumping, long jumping, shot put, javelin throw, and pole vault are competition events at the Games.

What’s more the Games are segmented into two age categories, which are Under 17 (U-17) and Under 20 (U-20).  And athletes from over 20 countries competed at this year’s staging of the Games, including

including Jamaica, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, U.S. Virgin Island, Barbados, French Guiana, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname, Curaçao, Bermuda, Aruba, Belize, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Martinique, and  Turks and Caicos Islands.

The 49^th CARIFTA Carifta Games Kingston 2022 got underway with an Opening Ceremony that boasted a colorful Parade of Nations where athletes from each participating team entered the National Stadium preceded by their flag and a bearer of their country’s name placard.   Jamaican Government, NACAC, and other officials also made statement presentations, as well as gave the declaration that the 2022 Games had been officially opened.   At that, there was lively competition on the track as a number of events took place among the competing nations.

Against this background, the photo highlights below seek to capture the key happenings on Opening Day of the Games:

All photos by Nick Ford, who lives and works in South Florida.