The Hon. Charles Griffith, Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment (centre) during his delivery of the feature address at the 2024 Barbados Triathlon Calendar Launch.

The Barbados Federation of Island Triathletes were urged to embark on talent scouting from the primary school level to boost its complement of future athletes to compete at the local, regional and international levels.

Declaring government’s full backing for BFIT, Minister Griffith suggested the tapping of talent from primary schools can bear significant fruit in five to ten years time.

He made these remarks during the feature address earlier today at the launch of the 2024 Barbados Triathlon Calendar at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc’s (BTMI) Conference Room at Warrens, St. Michael.

That calendar encompasses three major world class events being hosted by BFIT in March, July and August that are expected to attract over 500 athletes and supporters, with the March event serving as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics.

On March 17th, Barbados will host the World Triathlon Americas Triathlon Cup, July 2nd to 7th, the World Triathlon Development Regional Cup and Training Camp, and August 17th and 18th, the Carifta Triathlon, Aquathlon and Mixed Relay Championships.

Minister Griffith indicated that he is really looking forward to the three major world class events being held this year by BFIT, and noted that his Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Tourism to ensure Barbados’ reaps maximum benefits from such initiatives.