By Treiston Joseph
Georgetown dethroned Linden to become champions of the 11th edition of the LinWest Games sponsored by the New Guyana Sports Association of New York Inc (NGSANY) and held by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) at the Eve Leary Sports Club ground yesterday.
Competing for the first time at the games since its birth, Georgetown amassed 327 points to win while Linden 289, East Coast Demerara 215, West Demerara 205 and East Bank Demerara 72 took second, third, fourth and fifth places respectively.
Stephan James continued his good showing from the recent CARIFTA Games when he captured a sprint double by winning the 200 and 400 metres.
While James took the 400 metres in 50.3s, he out sprinted long time rival Chavez Ageday to complete his sprint double in a time of 22.0s while Ageday clocked 22.4s to take the second position.
“I went out there with a mindset to run hard but I was a bit disappointed because I did not run the time I expected to run.
“My focus is not to beat anybody but just to improve my times at each competition,” James added.
Ageday, who competed for the first time since suffering from a hamstring injury, also expressed his thoughts of the race to Stabroek Sport.
“Well, my hamstring is good but I’m focusing on my CXC exams so I only trained about two days, so it’s a good comeback for me but I’ll be in better shape after my exams,” Ageday stated.
Devaun Barrington produced a tactical 1500 metres run when he defeated CARIFTA Games representative Trevon George in a time of 4:20.1s while George ran 4:20.5s to place second with Nathaniel Giddings 4:27.8 placing third.
George bounced back later in the day to win the 800 metres in a time of 2:02.9s while Devaun Barrington placed second in 2:03.3s and Malcolm Walcott, third, in 2:06.9s
“I just listened to my coach, believed in myself and strived for the success. This time I put in the extra work to come out on top but my next aim is to lead Guyana at the Inter Guiana Games and the Pan American juniors,” Barrington stated after his victory.
Earlier in the day, Ageday won the under 20 100 metres in a time of 10.8s with Marlon Moshett 11.0s and Kevin Scott 11.4s placing second and third respectively.
The boys’ under-18 100 metres also saw good action when Keon Lynch, who received a pair of running shoes from the NGSANY, won the event in a time 10.9s with Christopher Hyderkhan 11.1s and Tevin Garraway 11.4s second and third respectively.
Giddings continued his dominance in the 5000 metres when he won in a time of 16:49.0s while Chavez Sital 18:33.2 and Alexander Clarke 20:55.4s trailed in second and third positions respectively.
On the distaff side Tiffany Carto and Letisha Miles recorded sprint doubles for Georgetown winning both the 100 and 200 metres in the under 18 and 20 categories respectively.
Carto recorded times of 12.3s and 25.6s in the 100 and 200 metres respectively while Miles turned in times of 12.6s and 26.5s in the 100 and 200 metres respectively.
Two-time CARIFTA Games gold medalist, Jevina Straker, captured a distance double by winning the 800 and 1500 metres in times of 2:33.6s and 5:06.6s respectively.
Meanwhile Jevina Sampson, who was announced as the girls’ under-15 champion ran away with the under-15 80 metres earlier in the day clocking a time of 9.9s with Renlsa Charles 10.4 and Kristel Monchery 10.5s taking second and third respectively.
Team manager of the Georgetown team, Faye Naughton, expressed her joy over the win despite the trials faced by the team.
“We had less than a week to prepare for the competition and despite our trials we managed to put together a team of talented and experienced athletes who did well to make up for our boys absence.
“So I’m elated at the moment that we could come out on top despite all of our trials,” Naughton told Stabroek Sport after the win.
The AAG will next Sunday hold its World Athletic Day championships at the Eve Leary Sports Club ground.
Caption: Stephan James, Devaun Barrington, Chavez Ageday, Jevina Straker and Jevina Sampson.
