Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) have their hands tied in relation to the National Sports Centre (NSC).

While other sports have relocation options if they think rental fees for the stadium are too high, BTFA president Judy Simmons says athletics must remain at the complex because it houses the only synthetic track on the Island.

"We are stuck. It's not a nice situation to be in - but we are," she declared candidly, adding her voice to the debate on costs for using the Sports Centre.

"Football and cricket can go to other venues. Hockey is played elsewhere. Netball has somewhere else but there's only one synthetic track in the Island. Whether we like it or not - if we're going to be on the world stage where everyone else has a synthetic track - we have to use the NSC.

"You can train on grass but there comes a time when you have to run on a synthetic track. You can't take athletes from the grass straight to a competition without them having experience on a synthetic track."

Stating that the BTFA now pays $125 per hour for each meet at the Frog Lane arena, Simmons noted they also pay to use the old concession stand (about $115) as well as for lights.

"If you don't clean up sufficiently you pay for that also. That's all separate," she said. "We just got a bill yesterday (Monday). They are charging 80 cents per cartridge for the gun to start a race and each cartridge can only be used once."

Saying she is unsure of the BTFA's exact arrears to the NSC, the president revealed her organisation had "been going back to the ministry and asking if they can assist" the BTFA in meeting their financial obligations.

"That's the only way we can do it. There's no sports governing body in Bermuda that's rich unless they have got some money from somewhere else but all of us get grants from Government and those are for administrative costs - not anything else.

"In order for us to measure where our athletes are we must have track meets. I don't think anyone expected to be paying the charges we are faced with. I appreciate that some charges must be paid and the stadium has to be run but we have to decide if we're developing athletes from Bermuda or we're not.

"That's a simple question. We're not doing it for ourselves. When these athletes leave the Island they are representing Bermuda," reasoned the athletics boss.

She also queried why it was taking much longer than originally indicated to build the entire Sports Centre.

Comparing the situation here to Grenada, Simmons noted that Caribbean island got a purpose-built stadium with electronic timing, an electronic scoreboard and on-site accommodations - plus an adjoining world-class cricket pitch - constructed between 1997 and 2000 while Bermuda's old facility was demolished in the 1980s and a new complex yet to be completed.

"They (Grenada) did all that in three years and I don't understand why ours is taking almost 20 (years). I remember speaking to a previous sports minister who said it would be done in three years and that was in the 1980s. We're still waiting."

Simmons supported the contention by Bermuda Football Association president Larry Mussenden that the trustees were originally mandated "to raise funds from outside" to have the multi-sports complex built.