Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion for Ath­let­ic Ad­min­is­tra­tions (NAAA) pres­i­dent Ephraime Ser­rette and Sec­re­tary Al­lan Ba­boolal left for Ja­maica yes­ter­day to at­tend the fu­ner­al ser­vice of In­ter­na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion Ath­let­ic Fed­er­a­tion (IAAF) Area Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Neville "Ted­dy" Mc Cook.

He will be laid to rest to­day fol­low­ing a memo­r­i­al ser­vice at the Kingston Col­lege Chapel in Kingston at 2 pm with a mu­si­cal pre­sen­ta­tion com­menc­ing at 1.30 pm.Ser­rette ex­pressed that Mc Cook helped to ad­vance track and field and the re­gion say­ing: "Mc­Cook has con­tributed to the de­vel­op­ment and pro­fes­sion­al­is­ing of the sport of track and field. He was in­stru­men­tal is sourc­ing spon­sor­ship for the Carif­ta Games and get­ting the full sup­port of the IAAF for the meet."

Ser­rette added, "He was help­ful and will­ing to lis­ten and shared ideas where ad­min­is­tra­tion and the sport are con­cerned. He was al­ways ready to as­sist with find­ing so­lu­tions."Mc Cook was an IAAF coun­cil mem­ber since 1999, pres­i­dent of Ja­maica Am­a­teur Ath­let­ics As­so­ci­a­tion from 1984-1996 and pres­i­dent of NACAC (North Amer­i­can, Cen­tral Amer­i­can and Caribbean AA) from 2007 to the time of his death. He was the gen­er­al sec­re­tary of the Ja­maica Olympic As­so­ci­a­tion for al­most 15 years at the time of his pass­ing. The Ja­maican ad­min­is­tra­tor died at the age 73 on Feb­ru­ary 11 af­ter a bat­tle with prostate can­cer and di­ver­ti­c­uli­tis.

T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) sec­re­tary gen­er­al Bri­an Lewis de­scribed Mc Cook's death as a great loss, not on­ly to track and field but the Caribbean Olympic move­ment."He was a source of en­cour­age­ment and good ad­vice over the years. He will be missed," said Lewis.