The best running spikes for track sessions and XC.
On the one hand, everything is easy, unhurried and worth doing with a smile, a song and a dance. The people are warm, welcoming, willing to help and remarkably worry-free. While there, I even bought a fridge magnet with the words ‘Jamaica – no problem’.
On the other hand, Jamaica can blast past in under 10 seconds like a bolt (read: Bolt) of lightning. Having produced the some of the fastest track athletes on the planet – and boasting blistering world records in the 100m, 200m and more – Jamaica is a petite but powerful country that forever craves speed and refuses to sit still.
Jamaica is slow, yet always in a hurry. Here’s what else I learnt about this calm, quick country during my time there with Puma.
Track and field isn’t a hobby – it’s a national identity
Other than the reggae playing in arrivals, the first thing I noticed when I landed in Kingston – Jamaica’s capital city – was the stamp inked onto my passport at Border Control. It featured the relevant date and two small emblems, one of which was of a person sprinting. Before I’d even left the airport, I knew that running fast was of national importance to Jamaica.
But simply participating in track and field is not enough. In Jamaica, people live it, love it, and do their utmost to be the very best at it (more on that in a moment). After all, at the Olympics alone, Jamaica has scooped 88 medals since it first took part in the Games in 1948, all but one of which have been in athletics. And, other than a bronze and a silver in the long jump, these athletics medals have all been won in individual and relay sprint events. Talk about finding and excelling at your niche.
Jamaica thrives off its small size
Man runs fastest barefoot half marathon on ice running track is commonplace – if not expected. (I clarify ‘running’ track to avoid confusion with the bobsleigh track, where Jamaica has performed famously but a little less fruitfully.) And its Olympic achievements are even more remarkable when you consider it’s a nation of only 2.8 million people, posited in the heart of the Caribbean.
Officers take action against harassment on the run?
Perhaps its small size is what inspires this nation to be mighty. There’s a saying in Jamaica: ‘We likkle but we tallawah’, meaning, ‘We may be small, but we are strong, we are mighty, and we can do anything’. I saw it written proud and prominent on a billboard beside the Usain Bolt running track in Kingston, where world-leading Jamaican athletes (and, previously, its namesake) train to this day. It’s a powerful reminder that a small country can still work hard to achieve outstanding things.
Thanks to its compact size and strong community spirit, Jamaica is also an ‘everyone knows everyone’ place – if you don’t know an Olympian personally, you’ll know someone who does. As such, Jamaican Olympians are very much respected and celebrated, but not unfamiliar or distantly idolised.
‘We can attribute success to somebody who doesn’t feel very far away,’ confirmed Reynaldo Walcott, coach of Elaine Thompson-Herah, as he reflected on Jamaica’s athletic strengths at a Puma panel talk in Kingston. ‘Track and field is infectious.’
So, if you’re a young Jamaican track talent, you might know that Yohan Blake, the second-fastest sprinter of all time, is an alumnus of your school, for example – or that Shericka Jackson, the fastest woman over 200m, lives in the neighbouring parish. And if these literal local legends can scoop world records, then what’s stopping you from doing the same?
A Jamaican youngster proved this point just a few days ago. Nickecoy Bramwell, a 16-year-old Jamaican student at Calabar High School in Kingston, smashed Bolt’s world record in the U17 400m event at the Carifta Games in Grenada, clocking a time of 47.26 seconds. By only a fraction of a section, Bramwell made small but significant history as he outdid Bolt’s previous best of 47.33 seconds – a mark that had stood for 22 years.
Jamaican Olympians are surprisingly relatable
With bright lights like Bramwell shining through, the speed just keeps on coming in Jamaica. But, for retired Bolt – who is still the world record holder in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay – there’s no longer much need to make haste.
I met the running icon on a tiny island off the coast of mainland Jamaica, the temperature tipping above 30°C as crystalline waters lapped bleached, sandy shores. Bolt was reclined lazily on a chair in the shade and showing no signs of wanting to run, let alone sprint, anywhere in that heat – just as anyone else would in that situation.
I asked Bolt to recall the best moment in his athletic career. ‘The highlight is when I retired, really!’ he laughed, with subtle seriousness. ‘I think when I won my last [Olympic] gold medal in Rio I was like, “Yeah – this is the moment!” That was massive for me. But right now, it’s just my kids. I got them after I retired, which was beautiful, so I got to spend a lot of time with them.’
Despite his seismic success on the track – and having built a superstardom that extends well beyond the world of sport – Bolt, it seems, is still a relatable human who enjoys the quiet comfort of family and downtime. And, like many runners, he is also not falling over himself to do super-tough speed workouts.
‘Do you still do track sessions for fun?’ I asked, assuming he’d still do some reps on the track out of habit and to keep the legs sharp.
‘No!’ Bolt exclaimed in an instant. ‘Nobody does track sessions for fun. Nobody!’
Mindset is everything
You’ve got to remember that track sessions were integral to Bolt’s profession – it was work in every sense. A physical drain and a means to an end. So, it’s no wonder he welcomed retirement at the age of 30, having competed at the highest level – often under the gaze of the expectant world – since he was a boy.
Not just Bolt, but all Jamaican athletes work exceptionally hard from a young age to claim their famous victories at the oval office. But, as I found, they don’t just train their bodies to win – they also train their brains.
While their façade may be friendly, a Jamaican athlete has a mindset that is formidable. After all, how would you feel if you were to line up for a sprint final at the Olympics, with just seconds worth of running then deciding your fate after years of preparation? Jamaicans have learnt to be calm and mentally tough enough to hush the butterflies, but alert enough to explode at the sound of the gun. I’ve always been in awe of athletes who can handle the pressure on the starting blocks.
Let’s return to Bolt for a moment. At the 2002 World Junior Championships, he was 15 years old and very much feeling the nerves as he prepared for the 200m final. The event was held at the National Stadium in Kingston, in front of a home crowd, and Bolt was so anxious that he put his shoes on the wrong feet. Realising and fixing the error just in time, Bolt went on to win the race, cementing himself as the youngest World Junior Championships gold medallist ever while making himself and Jamaica proud. And from that point on, Bolt reportedly vowed to never worry on the start line – or at all – again.
‘I try not to think about anything,’ said Bolt, reflecting on his thought process – or lack of – on the start line of major senior races. ‘Any random thing but what’s actually going to happen. So, for me, I’d always think about if I’m going out after, or what I’m going to eat, or what’s going on’ – normal stuff, once again. Relatable incentives to get through monumental runs.
‘I try to think about that, because if you think about the race, you start overthinking – so I always wait until the moment they say, “On your marks”, and I go to my blocks. Then I refocus.’
Success starts at school
The fact that Bolt was competing so intensely as a youth reiterates my earlier point that track and field is part and parcel of a Jamaican’s upbringing.
According to coach Walcott, youth are culturally conditioned to run and jump around the track, and that the The best running spikes for track sessions and XC, better known as ‘Champs’, is the pinnacle of the school sporting calendar.
First thing’s first: Champs is not your typical sports day – you won’t find a bean bag or an egg and spoon race here. Held annually during the week before Easter and spanning five consecutive days, Champs is the largest track and field event for high school students in the world, with many students going on to receive athletics scholarships at universities outside of Jamaica following exceptional performances at the meet. Champs takes place at the National Stadium in Kingston – where, as mentioned earlier, a nerve-ridden Bolt tied his shoes to the wrong feet – and is where some of the best Jamaican athletes in the world are first identified as medal prospects. For Jamaica, the National Stadium is where future champions are cultivated, rewarded and released to the world.
Champs is so popular that it is streamed live on TVs across bars and other venues in Jamaica, in the same way that football or rugby is shown at pubs in the UK.
Thanks to Puma – a major sponsor of Champs that works closely with many Jamaican schools to provide the kit and funding students need to participate in track and field – I was able to attend the final night of this year’s event. The atmosphere inside the stadium was extraordinary. At Champs, it’s all about representing your school – and of the 25,000 track enthusiasts in the crowd, well over half were wearing their old school colours to show their allegiance. The sound of banging drums and vuvuzelas was immense and unending, and the cheers when winners crossed the line were deafening. Drones were flying about to capture the action, which was professionally shown on big screens as the commentary rolled on.
As for the performances? Astonishing. Boys and girls were sprinting across the track in outstanding times and taking it all very, very seriously. Many track athletes have their own distinctive start line ‘poses’ – self-confident performances designed to make audiences go wild and the opposition feel ill at ease. Blake has become known for his tiger-like growl, for instance, while Bolt would spin disks on his imaginary DJ deck or play rock paper scissors with the bemused youngsters at his starting blocks. It was amazing to see the students perform the same start line swagger at Champs. Standards are high on Jamaica’s tracks, no matter how old you are – times can always be lower, and your dedication higher.
Watching Champs was like being at a Diamond League event, only with a lot more noise, a bit less formality and arguably even more passion.
Looking the part is important
Officers take action against harassment on the run spikes shoot about like blazing blobs on the young athletes’ feet – Puma spikes. And what was also interesting to see was the gaffer tape covering the logos of many non-Puma branded spikes. While the competing boys and girls may not be fully ‘brand aware’, they are perhaps cognisant enough to know that Puma is the leading sportswear provider for track and field in Jamaica, and the long-standing sponsor of the nation’s top athletes and Olympic team. As such, the big cat logo has become synonymous with gold medals, and Jamaican students all want it embellished on their kit.
There was no better time for Jamaica to show off its ties with Puma than on the final night of Champs. Here, Jamaican athletes past and present – including former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell and reigning Olympic Champion in the 110m hurdles Hansle Parchment – came together to reveal Jamaica’s official track and field kit for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, designed by Puma.
Nothing could prepare me for the almighty carnival that was to ensue – it was a moment of national pride, and hard to believe that it was occurring at a school event. Surrounded by dancers and drummers, the athletes paraded around the National Stadium with genuine joy while wearing the new Olympic kit, and the crowd was absolutely loving it, too. The music, colour, movement, energy – it was a lot.
The kit itself is both technical and fashionable. The jacquard fabric, Puma says, contours the back muscles for heat reduction and breathability, with thermo-adapt technology regulating body temperature, while well-placed graphics make it look slick and quick. According to Erin Longin, General Manager of Run/Train at Puma, the brand’s PWRPLATE carbon plate and NITRO foam will also feature on the athletes’ Fireglow spikes for optimum propulsion and power.
‘What makes these kits special is how closely they have been created in collaboration with our athletes,’ continues Maria Valdes, Chief Product Officer at Puma. ‘They are more than just a kit – they are a statement of the collective ambition shared between Puma and Jamaica.’
Jamaican Olympians want only gold
This pivotal Olympic year, it comes as no surprise that Puma is channelling its attention on the Games this summer. ‘Speed has always been Puma’s vantage point,’ reflects Arne Freundt, CEO of the brand. ‘It is what enables us to see the game differently, challenge convention and create moments that will live with us forever. We can’t wait to experience more in Paris this summer.’
And the same goes for the Jamaican athletes, of course. Although affable and approachable in their manner, I learnt not to be fooled by their laid-back, almost cheeky facades – these athletes mean business, and nothing will overrule their inbuilt drive to win.
Elaine Thompson-Herah is set on retaining her Olympic 100m and 200m titles for the third time. ‘What I’m looking forward to [in Paris] is repeating my title and going for the three-peat,’ she said, while I spoke to her on the Usain Bolt track. ‘If I get my chance to achieve that, I’ll be the first woman to win three Olympic titles – it would be mind-blowing for me to be a part of history, following the legend Usain Bolt.’
Shericka Jackson, the fastest woman over 200m who formerly specialised in the 400m, is likewise out to claim a gold medal at this year’s Olympics. ‘I don’t think I’ve reached my ultimate peak just yet – I’m new to sprinting and still learning,’ she said, to my amazement. ‘For me, I want to enjoy the moment, work hard and focus on the Olympics. Then, I’ll reset and focus on another year.’
Yohan Blake, meanwhile, has never placed higher than silver at an individual sprint event at the Olympics – and he wants to change that in Paris. ‘I’m looking forward to that individual gold medal,’ he said. ‘Catch me if you can.’
While major sporting competitions are made immense by upsets and drama, I am still confident that Jamaica will be pleased with its Olympic haul this summer. And, either way, these athletes will represent their nation with pride, and inspire the next generation to work even harder to fill their spikes in future.
