Seven talented young athletes have already booked their tickets to St.Kitts for next year's Carifta Games after meeting the qualifying standard for the annual event.

Kyla Bolden, Shuntae Hendrickson, Taylor Ashley-Bean, Ashley Berry, Megan Berry, Ryan Furbert and Matthew Spring will all be searching for podium places in the Caribbean event from March 22 -24.

Donna Watson, from the BLTA, believes Bermuda will send a bigger team to St.Kitts than Turks and Caicos earlier this year, with the qualification window remaining open until March 17.

"We're very confident quite a few more athletes will qualify for Carifta," said the former Bermuda track star. "There are a number who have the capabilities to do so and they have plenty of time to reach the standard.

"In Turks and Caicos we didn't quite manage the medal yield we were looking for, but with names already qualified we hope that will change in St.Kitts. We have seven athletes already qualified, so we should be sending quite a big team."

The next opportunity for local athletes to qualify for Carifta is a meeting at the National Sports Centre on January 5.

Athletes qualified

Matthew Spring (16) - Boys under-20 800m; Ryan Furbert (15) - Boys under-17 800m; Kyla Bolden (11), Shuntae Hendrickson (12), Taylor Ashley-Bean (15), Ashley Berry (15) - Girls under-17 800m; Ashley Berry - Girls under-17 3,000m; Megan Berry - Girls under-17 1500m.