Newcomer on the local track and field scene, Kim Chan, took the Enmore Community Centre ground by storm yesterday when she recorded her first double in her short career at the final installment of the Developmental meeting.
Chan, training under top junior coach Christopher Gaskin, claimed gold in the 60-metre girls’ under-17 race and the 150-metre girls’ under-15 event.
The 14-year-old Chan won the 60-metre event ahead of Nadine Rodrigues and Laenisha Thompson respectively and clinched the top spot in the 150m race from Rodrigues and seasoned campaigner, Shaunna Thornhill respectively.
Chan did not share the honour of a first double at a major track and field event alone as Calvin Belgrave, Jared Canzius, Lititia Myles and Telston McKinnon all recorded doubles for the first time at the Enmore ground.
Belgrave sprinted away with the under-13 boys’ 60m and 300m events from Garfield Deroche and Aroydy Branford and David Linelle and Deroche respectively.
Canzius was impressive in the under-15 boys’ 60m and 150m races. He won the 60m ahead of Chavez Ageday and Royan Abrams while claiming the 150m from Ageday and Elton Bollers respectively.
Myles won the under-15 girls’ 60m with Temica Weterman and Rena Samoogan placing second and third respectively. Myles returned later to take the 150m event from Weterman and Samoogan in that order.
Royal Youth Movement’s (RYM), Telston McKinnon claimed the under-17 boys’ 60m and 150m events.
Delon DeAbreu placed second in the 60m race while Carl Lewis finished third. Sebastian Anthony was second in the 150m event with DeAbreu, third.
Chan, who attends Christ Church Secondary School, told Stabroek Sport after her feat that she recovered from an injury only two weeks ago and was forced to put in a lot of hard work for the event.
“I have been training hard for this and it feels good; I went to Barbados to run in the relay fair and I came back with an injury,” Chan said adding that based on what her physiotherapist told her, she did not expect the results she received yesterday.
The soft-spoken Chan said that she has only been competing for a year after being convinced by Gaskin to take the sport seriously at an inter-school relay meet two years ago. Asked if a repeat can be expected at the national junior championships next week, Chan smiled and said that all she could promise at the moment is to return to the drawing board and train harder for the upcoming event.
Guyana’s international junior middle distance star, Alika Morgan also snapped up a double yesterday in the under-20 girls’ 600m and 3000m races. Leanna Doris placed second in both the 600 and 3000m events with Onice Lucius taking third in the 600m and Adonnica Barry third in the 3000m event.
Kiev Chesney out-ran Dennis Horatio and Trimaine Alphonso respectively to cop the under-20 boys’ 1200m race to record his first win for 2007 and the only major upset of the day’s events.
Thornhill romped to victory in the under-17 girls’ 300m race while Rodrigues and Tein Evelyn placed second and third respectively. Bollers came out on top of the 300m boys’ under-15 field ahead of Errol Welcome and Chavez Taylor respectively.
Enmore’s Kenneth Semple got his heart’s desire when he outsprinted Police Progressive Youth Club’s Kizan Brummel and RYM’s Lionel Perriera in that order to run away with the elusive under-20 boys 60m title.
A few events later, Semple was beaten into second place by long time rival, Kevin Haynes in the under-20 boys’ 150m with Leon Bisham placing third.
The athletes will fine-tune their preparations for the real test next week when the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) hosts the annual youth and junior championships March 8-9.
