Although he has been jumping for just about a year, Patrick King copped his second straight Inter Services Athletic Championship (ISAC) long jump title with an emphatic win ahead of Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) Troy Williams at the Guyana Defence Force ground Camp Ayangana yesterday.
King leapt 7.04 metre in his second jump of the competition and coasted through the remainder of the event while Williams and the other jumpers tried to improve on their positions. Williams came closest, but came up just short of the seven-metre, posting a best effort of 6.96m which was only good enough for the silver medal. King’s GDF teammate Quacy Payne (6.89m) stole third place ahead of former ISAC jumping champion Ryan Scott of the Guyana Fire Service. Scott eventually placed fourth, with his best jump recorded being 6.85m.
King got a major confidence booster as he enters the preliminary of the men’s 200m which are scheduled to be staged today. GDF almost managed to sweep the male and female long jump Tandeca Burgess spoiled the trend by the closest of margins. Burgess of GPF and GDF’s Letitia Myles both posted best jumps of 5.24m but Burgess got the edge over miles since her second best effort (5.1m) was better than that of Myles (5:06m) while GPF’s Tracy Moses placed third.
Myles and King were among the sprinters who were registered to compete in the heats in some sprint events during the morning sessions but they were not enough competitors for the heats to be staged. Some of the services, namely the Guyana Fire Services (GFS) and the Guyana Prison Services had several of their sprinters missing in actions, so the open 100m and 400m heats both male and were scratch and competitors advanced to finals automatically.
The 100m line up will include defending ISAC 100m and 200m champion Rupert Perry of GDF and his teammates Quinse Clarke and Jermaine Newton along with GPF Olympian Winston George. George is also expected to compete in the 400m and 200m. Ronald Payne (41.23m) of the GPF won the men’s discuss ahead of teammate Julio Sinclair (39.76m) and Walden Arther (38.42m) of the GFS.
The female discus event was won by 2011 ISAC champion athlete Natasha Alder (32.38m), while her teammate Latoya Rodney (30.42m) placed second and GDF’s Wonita Wayne (27.42m) took third.
