Thursday’s Carifta trials held by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) at the Police Sports Club ground was one of the best junior trials in the last three years in terms of the level of competition and the crowd support.
The Eve Leary ground was packed with spectators to witness the trials especially the clash between Stephan James and Chavez Ageday in the 200 metres.
That race was easily the hottest and most debatable race of the day, gripping the attention of everyone in the bleachers.
The athletes put on a show which duly entertained the crowd producing a number of fast times.
And, although the 21.3s ran by James in the 200 metres was the talk of the day because of the much hyped James and Ageday showdown, there were other good performances which captivated everyone.
One such performance was that of Samuel Caitan, out of Rupununi, who trounced junior distance champion Nathaniel Giddings by an approximate distance of 120 metres and who ran a relatively good time of 16:40.8s in the 5000m.
It was a performance totally unexpected by everyone at the ground but the only problem is that athletes from the Rupununi rise to stardom and then are allowed to “blush unseen” because of their remote location.
This, the AAG needs to change in order to improve athletics in Guyana as athletes from the Rupununi definitely raise the competitive edge in the distance events.
In Guyana, such stars as Ricardo Martin and Doretta Wilson have all gone by the wayside and it is a discredit to the athletics fraternity.
Brian Rodrigues, secretary of the Rupununi Athletics and Sports Association (RASA), told Stabroek Sport that it was really tough getting the athletes together because of the various locations in the Rupununi that they come from but said he was happy for the success of Caitan and thanked the sponsors who helped the team, including the GBTI Lethem branch and Trans Guyana.
Tevin Garraway, out of the Police Progressive Youth Club, was also another outstanding performer in the Under-17 category.
He ran unchallenged in the U-17, 100 and 200 metres, making the qualifying time of 10.8s in the 100 metres.
The short, stocky sprinter, displayed real sprinting power along with rapid leg turnovers and could definitely be a force to reckon with in the 100 metres once his talents are honed properly.
Letitia Myles of the Guyana Defence Force, (GDF), marked her name as well as one of the outstanding performers with a 12.0s, 100m run which was very close to the AAG’s qualifying time..And while her 200 metres time was not as close to the qualifying mark, when a junior female sprinter dips under 25s its truly a remarkable run to witness as Myles clocked in at 24.9s.
Ageday was also in the heat of things although he lost the much anticipated clash between himself and James. Ageday clocked in at 10.3s in the 100 metres, the fastest time of the year so far at the distance in Guyana and also made the qualifying standard for Carifta which was set by the AAG.
James’s club performed well overall at the meet with Jevina Straker taking a distance double in the 800 and 1500 metres under-20 category; Andrea Foster delivering superbly in the Under-17 1500 and 3000 metres and Shomaine Daniels returning to form and capturing the Under-17 200 and 400 metres events.
The club’s only low point on that day was that their rising star Jevina Sampson, who was in tremendous form before the meet could not participate due to quadriceps injury.
Co-coach, Sham Johnny, told Stabroek Sport that the club was still not doing speed work at this point in the season.
“We are not doing speed work yet, we’re still in the hills and gym, we’re not committed to the track and will go into speed work in time for Carfta Games because that’s how we designed our programme,” Johnny stated.
With all these great performances on the track it leaves the AAG to up their game in organizing these events to attract not only people to these games but sponsors as well.
The AAG will also have a task on their hands in picking the team for the Carifta meet, scheduled for April in Bermuda. The AAG should arrive at a shortlist by today since it was understood that they had a meeting yesterday afternoon to deliberate on the team.
