By Keiv Chesney
Niall Roberts overcame severe ant bites to anchor the male relay team to an emphatic victory in the 4x50m freestyle in the last event of the Inter-Guiana swimming Championships last night at the Parima pool in Suriname.
After ending the first session in third place, team Guyana came out with a bang and secured six individual medals and an inspiration victory in the boys’ relay, punctuated by the miraculous efforts of Roberts on the last leg.
Prior to the start of the second session, coach of the swim team Sean Baksh said that although Roberts’s foot was still swollen and inflamed, he was determined to compete.
Baksh said that he would have allowed him compete in only one event, the relay, since the individual events might have been too fatiguing for him, since his ankle was still not rotating freely.
After the race Roberts told Stabroek Sport, “Right now, my foot is feeling really stiff and it is still paining but when I was in the water,it was like adrenaline got hold of me or something because I couldn’t feel a thing.’’
Earlando McRae gave team Guyana the rocket start they needed to grab a comfortable lead which Henk Lowe and Jamaal Sobers tried their best to maintain before Roberts stroked gracefully to victory on the last leg, seemingly unaffected.
McRae nabbed his third gold medal in the 100m breaststroke before placing second to Marcelino Richaards in the 50m butterfly.
In the 50m butterfly, McRae’s goggles slipped unto his nose halfway through the race, while Richards got into full flight to clock a time of 26.21s, while Mcrae did enough to hold on to second.
Sobers added two medals more to his team, a silver in the 200m freestyle (2:12.57s) and a bronze in the 50m backstroke (32.47s). Lowe trailed Sobers by one position in the 200m freestyle to capture his first medal.
The only female swimmer to ‘medal’ for Guyana was Noelle Smith (34.10s), who followed her bronze medal performance in session one with another when she placed third in the 50m butterfly.
