14-year-old boy wins 400m race at Barbados Spring Classic

Barbados: A 14 year-old Zarell Harding won the boys’ under-15 400m race at the Barbados Athletic Association Spring Classic held at the Usain Bolt Complex, when he ran a personal best of 55.34 seconds.

The Coleridge & Parry student started his athletic journey when he was at De Pearls’ Nursery & Pre School where he was always an active child and naturally gravitated to track.

This love for sports was developed as a student at St. Cyprian’s Boys’ School when he represented the school at the National Primary School Athletic Championships (NAPSAC) and he played in the Herman Griffith Cricket tournament for the school. At that time around the age of seven he also excelled in Judo.

Zarell’s talent was not limited to sports as he was chosen to sing at West Terrace Primary School graduation where he was well received by his colleagues, staff and friends of the school.

It was while at St. Cyprians that Zarell joined the Judo classes without the knowledge of his parents and he would go to practice and was encouraged because of his natural ability. He went on to win a bronze medal in a tournament playing for Barbados and he also won gold in the BJA Legacy Cup while still a white belt beating higher graded competitors.

Zarell transferred to West Terrace Primary School in class two and continued his excellence in track and field representing West Terrace at NAPSAC where he was a finalist in the 300m race. While in class two and three, he made the school’s Herman Griffith cricket team but missed out on the opportunity to do so in class four when covid struck.

Currently a third former at Coleridge and Parry school, he has now represented the school at all levels in cricket, in track and field, cross country and basketball. Last year, Zarell was a finalist in the under-15 division of the 400m and 300m hurdles at the BSSAC when he placed second in the javelin throw.

This year he was unable to compete in track at BSSAC as he was in cricket camp in preparation for the 2024 ‘Cricket West Indies Rising Stars’ under-15 50 overs competition. However, he competed in the javelin throw when the field events were held earlier than the track events and won the under-15 javelin throw.

Cricket is one of his passions and as a member of Franklyn Stephenson Cricket Academy he gained exposure to overseas teams when he toured with the club to the UK and he also played against a touring English team at home when he won a ‘Player of the Match‘ award.

He also plays for Maple Cricket Club and was called up to the Barbados under-15 cricket team. He was a valuable member of the team that won the 2024 ‘Cricket West Indies Rising Stars’ under-15 50 overs Championship, which was played in Antigua, where he opened the bowling.

This month Zarell played on his school’s basketball team in the National Sports Council under-15 basketball tournament.

Zarell was the recipient of the Dennis Springer Award for Sporting Excellence in Cricket at the 2022-2023 Coleridge & Parry Speech Day and while his goal is to become a professional cricketer, he also has his eyes on representing Barbados at CARIfTA in both the 400m and Javelin events.