Seepersad, Chinapoos among standouts, as Carifta stars light up Relays Festival

Trinidad and Tobago’s Carifta Games stars shone the brightest at Sunday’s rain-affected 2025 Republic Bank-NAAATT Relays Festival held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

Rising sprint stars Kadeem and Hakeem Chinapoo helped the South-Central Zone outpace their rivals in winning the Boys’ Under-20 4×100 metres in a blistering 40.56 seconds—one of 11 victories in 22 events for the zone.

Carifta Games medalist Alex Seepersad used his astonishing top-end speed to conjure up wins from losing situations to help the North-East Zone to seven wins on the day.

However, defending champions North-West Zone completed a hat-trick of victories in the event, with track and netball star Shian Lewis anchoring her team to one of only two wins overall.

North-West claimed the title with 220 points, ahead of North-East (207), South Central (169) and Tobago (109).

“[North-West] were good throughout. The only hurt I got was in the 4×100 metres and 4×200 metres for U17 boys,” North-West coordinator Kelvin Nancoo told Wired868. “But we were beaten by the U17 champion, Alex Seepersad, who came back from behind and caught us. Other than that, we had a fantastic day and everyone did their duty.

“It is important to note that the other zones are coming up and really beginning to work with their athletes, and I am very happy with the performances of all the zones. It augurs well for track and field in Trinidad and Tobago.”

The 2025 Relays Festival took place under a Yellow Level Adverse Weather Alert, with heavy rains causing multiple stoppages throughout the day. Defending champions North-West took the opening race, the star-studded Mixed 4×800-metre relay.

Keiel Samuel, Aniqua Bailey, Omari Thompson, and Shian Lewis obliterated the competition to win in eight minutes, 38.33 seconds (8:38.33) ahead of Tobago and North-West B.

Four Carifta Games medallists were featured in his event: Lewis and Thompson won bronze medals in the 800 metres and 5,000 metres in 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Tobago’s Oshea Cummings won the 1500-metre event last month, while North-West’s Christopher Sammy took gold in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres.

Central failed to field in the 4×800-metre event and the Mixed 800-metre Sprint Medley, along with Tobago.

“The long distance—the 4×800 metres—we could not field any teams there because we don’t have any girls running that distance,” said Gunness Persad, a South-Central Zone coordinator. “Something has to be done about that.”

North-East registered their first win of the day, and claimed second place—a valuable gain of 15 points, eight for the win and seven for second.

The North East B team won in 1:36.76, getting the better of their A team, which included Carifta medallists Noemi Theodore, Trevaughn Stewart, and Deshaun Cole.

North-West took third and fourth place. Their team included twins Tenique and Tyrique Vincent, who won gold in the heptathlon and the decathlon, respectively, at the recently concluded Carifta Games.

The 4×100-metre relays were next. North-East would dominate, taking four wins, with South-Central taking the top spot in the next three.

Carifta medallist Mikayla Granderson anchored the North-East team’s victory in the Girls Under 17 4x100m relay to win in 47.13 seconds.

Seepersad gave the first glimpse of his talent in leading North-East’s win in the Boys U17 4×100 metres relay in 42.80 seconds.

The Arima athlete impressed with his phenomenal acceleration during the Carifta Games, anchoring Trinidad and Tobago to a bronze medal in the Boys U17 4x100m relay.

“Alex Seepersad, really impressive. Everyone was really impressed by the heart that he had and the performances that he put in,” said North-East coordinator Dave Sandy.

“We saw some comebacks from Alex Seepersad where the team was behind, and he actually got them into first place.”

South-Central would hold sway in the Boys Under 20 4x100m with the Chinapoo brothers teaming up with Khareem Solomon and Sydney Gibbs to win in 40.56 seconds.

It was the most impressive performance of the day, beating North East B into second in a distant 42.07 seconds.

North-East, with Carifta bronze medallist Noemi Theodore on anchor leg, would take the women’s 4x100m relay, while South-Central would reign supreme in the men’s race (41.29).

In the 4x400m relays, South-Central came to the fore, winning three out of the six events.

Tobago took their first win of the day in the Mixed U15 event, while Granderson featured in North-East’s only triumph in the 4x400m relays in the Girls U17 race (4:01.10).

A strong North-West B team of Khordel Lewis, Christopher Sammy, Julian Chin Lee, and Khordae Lewis would win the Boys U17 event from their ‘A’ team, which included Carifta 800-metre champion Brion Scott.

South-Central took the final three 4x400m relays.

After victory in the Men’s U20, Carifta triple jump champion Kenisha Shelbourne would anchor South-Central’s success in the women’s 4x400m, while the men’s team crossed the line first in 3:17.19.

The Men’s 3000-metre Open was staged before the final set of relays, the 4×200-metre events.

Outstanding middle-distance runner Nicholas Romany duelled with two-time Carifta champion Tafari Waldron before winning in 8:36.91.

Waldron, who many see as the heir-apparent to training partner Romany, was a step behind in 8:36.91, with Carifta athlete Darius Harding a distant third (8:59.43).

With the program-ending 4x200m relays to come, North-West held a narrow lead despite the dominance of North-East and South-Central in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

North-West gathered 151 points with just two wins, North-East 140, South Central had 112, and Tobago 79.

“It is because you know there are two teams in every event, so you have got to ensure that your team is balanced,” said North-West coordinator Nancoo. “If you don’t balance your teams, you will suffer at the end.”

At the start of the 4x200m relays, the superbly talented Gloria Henry would lead Tobago’s victory in the Girls U15 event.

South-Central’s athletes would take over from there, winning all but one of the six remaining 4x200m relay events. Their Boys U15 team won in 1:37.25, while Carifta Games athlete Zada Charles starred in North-East’s win in the Girls U17 relay.

Seepersad again showed his tremendous finishing power in leading North East to their only 4x200m relay victory.

The Chinapoo brothers helped South-Central to a 1:26.67, clocking in the Boys U20 race, while 2024 Carifta medallist Tianna Richardson was part of the team that won the women’s 4x200m relay.

The South-Central men’s team also took their 4×200-metre relay, the last race of the day.

Despite the flurry of wins, South-Central took only 57 points from the last seven races, compared to 69 for North-West and 67 for North-East.

North-West, which led by only seven points with four races to go, held on to win the title for the third consecutive year, with 220 points.

Zonal coordinator Nancoo said that to win the championship, consistency and depth count.

“If you put the strong national team from your zone as your first team, then your second team is basically only going to get one point. So if you do that, you get eight and one. That’s nine points,” he explained.

“We work differently. We work to get a maximum of 15 and a minimum of 13 (points from each event). And that will bring you the championship,” Nancoo revealed.

North-East coordinator Dave Sandy was pleased with earning 207 points for second place, but lamented technical issues that dogged them on the day.

“We also fell back a little bit with some of the technical issues because of baton passing. We had a few of our relay teams not performing well because of dropped batons,” he said.

South-Central coordinator Persad said that the inclement weather and other issues affected their chances.

“In some races, we couldn’t field two teams. They had A and B; we couldn’t field two teams,” Persad said. “There was bad weather in south Trinidad. Some of the athletes did not turn up because of the bad weather.”

As for North-West, Kelvin Nancoo believes their reign in the Republic Bank-NAAATT Relays Festival is set to continue in 2026.

“We already worked that out. We will win the beaver trick in 2026,” he said. “We’ve done well. Next year, in 2026, we promise to win again. I hope somebody will come closer next year, but I don’t think they will beat [us].”

Republic Bank-NAAATT Relays Festival – Points Standings

2025

1. North-West – 220
2. North-East – 207
3. South-Central – 169
4. Tobago – 109

2024

1. North-West – 248
2. South-Central-211
3. North-East – 185
4. Tobago – 82

2023

*The event was not held due to preparations for the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games

2022

1. North-West – 242
2. North-East – 202
3. South-Central – 167
4. Tobago – 60

Zonal Coordinators

North-East – Kenrick Williams, Dave Sandy, Akini Thomas;

North-West – Kelvin Nancoo, Derrick Simon, Donelle Stafford;

South-Central – Gunness Persad, Hydaine Haper-Simmons, Eric McCree;

Tobago – Soren Bishop, Chevelle McPherson, Kern Thom.