Cayman hosts anti-doping meeting
Cayman’s anti-doping representatives (L-R) Don McLean, Dr Verley Campbell, Dr Ruthlyn Pomares, James Myles, Merta Day and Joel Francis
(CNS Local Life): The Cayman Islands is hosting a two-day annual board meeting of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADO) starting Sunday, 23 October. High on the agenda will be deliberations on the board’s governance, electing a new vice chair and receiving the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) latest update. It is likely that the latter report will provide further insights into WADA’s derailment of Russia’s state-sponsored doping scheme, just ahead of the Rio Olympics.
Hosting the meeting for the first time since the board’s inception 11 years ago, the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee (CIOC) and its sub-committee, the Medical & Anti-Doping Commission (MADC), the registered doping control body for RADO locally, , is expecting delegates from Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos.
The Cayman Islands contingent will include Caribbean RADO executive member and CIOC President Don McLean as well as MADC chairperson James Myles.
Sports Minister Osbourne Bodden will give the opening remarks. Commenting on the historic occasion, Bodden said, “The Caribbean RADO board meeting is taking place at a critical time, following on the heels of the doping scandal in Rio and the upcoming 2017 World Championships.
“This meeting will help strengthen our Medical & Anti-Doping Commission with its mandate to ensure our athletes maintain their track record of remaining drug free.”
McLean said of Cayman’s efforts, “It is extremely important for each country to conduct anti-doping activities in sports to prevent athletes from getting an unfair advantage and to preserve their health. Here in the Cayman Islands our main focus is on anti-doping education in the schools and we regularly test our elite athletes.”
The 2016 board meeting will also feature member country updates appraising delegates of the progress made on anti-doping within the region. McLean and Myles will speak on the efficacy of local anti-doping measures targeting youth athletes throughout the country’s school system.
Caribbean RADO is part of a global network of RADOs, which consist of several countries in each geographic region and often mobilise and pool resources to implement anti-doping measures.
Category: Sports
