By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FORMER 400/800 metre specialist Waldon Whyms and his newly formed Core Athletics Track Club is looking to recruit some more middle distance runners in the country.

Whyms and his wife, Cheryl, who serves as the secretary, will conduct a tryout session on Saturday at 11am from the pavilion at Fort Charlotte for all potential competitors who are interested in running races for the new club in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ upcoming track season.

She said the trials are free to try out, but there will be a small administrative fee and a contract that each athlete, once accepted, will be required to sign as proof of their commitment to be a part of the club.

“We don’t want to exclude anyone so that is why we are raising the alarm,” she said. “We are expected to stage about three of these trials so that we can see the true potential of these athletes in becoming a part of the club.”

As a big supporter of the sport on the sidelines when their two children Cheldon (now in college) and Caldon followed in her husband’s footsteps as competitors, Cheryl Whyms said she saw how many persons gravitated to events like the 100 to 400m, but there were very few that ventured into races that were longer to compete in.

“Coach Waldon assisted Pauline Davis with her track club for a few years and then we decided as a husband and wife team to start the Core Athletics Club two years ago,” she said. “It’s a club that is geared more towards low income families.

“Coach Waldon came from a background when participation in clubs was free. We had kids who were involved in track and field, but when we looked around, we felt there was a need to provide a club that can benefit more people, who couldn’t afford to be a part of the clubs as they are structured now.”

For Waldon Whyms, who competed for the Aquinas College Aces before he went on to join the Bahamas Tigers Track Club where he was coached by Sidney Cartwright and was a team-mate of Olympic parliamentarians Iram Lewis and Renward Wells, said this is his way of giving back to the sport that helped him to earn a scholarship to attend Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa.

“It’s challenging. Nobody is perfect, so we are facing our challenges, but we are committed to making it and giving back to the entire track and field body in the BAAA,” he said. “I believe in helping the athletes to make sure that they can get something out of it like an education.

“We have some requirements, which includes doing well in school and being eligible to go to college and to be a productive citizen of the Bahamas.”

During Saturday’s trials, athletes will compete in a cross country competition that will include hills as they are assessed in their abilities at the start, the middle and the end of the races.

“We’re not just going to look at the winners, but I want to look at the athletes’ approach to it, how they deal with the middle of the race and how they complete the course.”

Both male and female athletes, from the junior to senior high school levels from the government and private schools, are invited to attend.

“I believe we have the middle distance athletes, but they just need direction,” Waldon Whyms said. “I believe that we don’t have a lot of coaches. We have the Hurry Murray Club and the T-Bird Flyers Track Clubs that are doing that now, but we could use more geared towards the middle distance races.

“I believe pound-for-pound, we have middle distance runners who we can get to the level of Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner. We just have to find those athletes and that is what our club is all about. We want to get athletes to excel at CARIFTA in the middle distance events and go on from there.”

Athletes are urged to show up in the proper running gear to compete on Saturday.