The Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) Inter Unit Championship will take place all this week at the GDF ground Camp Ayanganna with many titles up from grabs and opportunities for newcomers to make their name and claim a spot on the team for the Inter Services Athletic Championships (ISAC).
Twenty-two year-old lance corporal Patrick King is no newcomer, but this year the versatile sprinter will be looking to sweep the sprint events. King indicated to Stabroek Sport that he will be competing in all the sprint events (100m,200mand 400m) at the GDF Inter Unit Championships, and with his recent performances, nd the field of healthy athletes he is confident in his ability to complete the sweep.
“It’s just for Inter Unit. I decided to do it for my team and I’ve been running fast 100ms for a while now so I just decided to do it and I am looking forward to the competition,” King said.
King, the former GDF and ISAC 400m champion, is coming off two commanding wins in the invitational category of the South American Under23/Youth Championships trials held at the Police Sport Club ground Eve Leary two Sundays ago. There, King gapped the field and posted 21.7 seconds to win the 200m to follow up his blistering 10.4s shocking 100m win ahead of reputable sprinter Keith Roberts earlier that day. That recent sprint double boosted King’s confidence considering the fact that he had been nursing a hamstring strain. He also placed second to Ryan Scott in the long jump competition at that meet.
“That was like the coming out meet for me because after the injury I was just resting for a while and didn’t get to train much, but I can see the rest paid off and I did well.”
While his main focus for this week’s Inter Unit is his pet event the 400m, King said that he feels confident that he can duplicate his performances of 10.4s and 21.7sin the 100m and 200m respectively, which he feels should be good enough to hold off the competition. For the 100m, King said that his main challenger is emerging sprint ace Akeem Stewart.
GDF’s fastest men Quinse Clarke and Rupert Perry, who trained at the High Performance Centre in Jamaica earlier this year, are still recuperating from their various injuries and will not be competing in the 100m. DellonDeAbreau had claimed the 100m title last year while Clarke and Perry were away competing at the Alba Games. But even DeAbreau may not be able to defend his 100m title as he pulled up injured halfway through the 100m Under 23 finals two Sundays ago.
Keeping that in mind, King, who has in the past competed in the 800m and the long jump, plans to extend his range of events even further and step into the 100m. The Defence Headquarters athlete said that he realised that competing in three events is going to be difficult but he wants to contribute vital points to his team, while at the same time testing his fitness for ISAC.
“It’s Gonnabe very tough but I think I can do it. The work is there so I just have to do this to see where I am before Joint Services (ISAC).
King feel that he is about 85 to 95 percent fit and expects to be at his best for ISAC will be held in a few weeks’ time. King’s team DHQ are the defending Inter Unit team and he will take the track today for the 100m heats.
