– AAG President
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Colin Boyce, is very optimistic about the performances of the four Guyanese athletes who will represent Guyana this afternoon in Paramaribo, Suriname in the second leg of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) South American 10km Road Race Classic.
Guyana is expected to be represented by athletes Cleveland Forde,
Nathaniel Giddings and Dennis Horatio in the men’s Open category and sole female, Alika Morgan, who will vie for a chance to win the female title.
The former three traveled to Suriname by air on Thursday, alongside team manager and Secretary of the AAG, Claude Blackmore, while Morgan traveled from Guyana yesterday.
Contacted by Stabroek Sport via telephone yesterday, Boyce said that he has full confidence in Team Guyana to come up with good performances at the meet, particularly on the men’s side.
Guyana’s Forde enters the competition as the defending champion and, having already won the first leg of the event when it was held last Sunday in Guyana, is already showing great potential to once again take repeat his last year performance when he won the first two stages of the three-stage event.
Horatio had managed a fifth place finish in the event on Sunday, and Giddings came in seventh overall while finishing as the winner of the junior boys category. The second and third place positions were occupied by Trinidadians Denzel Ramirez and Curtis Cox, while Brazil’s Eliesio DaSilva finished fourth.
Morgan finished second behind Brazil’s Antonia DaSilva in the women’s competition but 2will no doubt be looking for her first win.
And, according to Boyce, with the Trinidadians not expected to participate in today’s branch of the race, Guyana will have the opportunity to move up a few places from their rankings attained locally.
Boyce explained that with all the other athletes from the different countries expected to be the same as those who took part in the Guyana leg, should the men be able to reproduce their performances in Guyana, they stood a fair chance of mounting higher positions.
“Our expectations are always high, and our chances are very, very good. And I don’t think the Trinidadians will be there, and if you look at the results it was the Trinidadians that took second and third, so Dennis Horatio now has the golden opportunity to work up to fall somewhere between first to third, and Nathaniel should come up in the order also, because if you look at it he won the [boys] junior’s title coming in seventh overall, and he is a very promising upcoming junior athlete,” Boyce said
As it pertains to Morgan, Boyce said that he has not been in contact with Morgan. Boyce said that as he understands it, Morgan had remained in Guyana to consult with her doctor before travelling to partake in the event and had travelled to Suriname yesterday, by bus.
He said that he has neither been able to contact Blackmore for an update on Morgan’s safe arrival as yet, though he hopes to be in touch with Blackmore sometime today before the race, which he says, is expected to begin around 4pm.
“And based on the competitions there [in Suriname] we will look at the possibility of attendance at the third leg of the event in Panama,” Boyce said.
Boyce said it was assured that Guyana will be present at the Panama leg as, according to him, future participation at this leg of the event is being revisited by the association.
Boyce noted that athletes from Panama have never taken part in any of the other two legs of the competition, in Guyana nor in Suriname, so the association does not see it likely that they would continue to support the event in Panama.
