The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) will host its second CARIFTA Games Trials tomorrow at the National Track and Field Centre.
Teen athletes with aspirations of representing Guyana at this year’s Games in Jamaica will have another opportunity to punch their tickets to compete with the Region’s best.
Athletes are scheduled to get into the blocks from 10:00hrs.
The trials will be used to select Guyana’s team to the 49th edition of the event.
Jamaica is set to host this year’s Games from April 16 to 18 after receiving their government’s backing following the cancellation of the last two editions due to COVID-19.
The 2020 event was scheduled to be held in Bermuda but was then postponed to 2021 before being cancelled as a result of ongoing coronavirus-related concerns in that territory and worldwide.
Standout local junior athletes will be eager to reach or surpass the qualifying standards set by the AAG in order to compete among the Region’s best in the ‘Land of Wood and Water’ during the Easter weekend.
Following the first qualifier on February 6, five standouts, Wesley Tyndall, Anisha Gibbons, Keliza Smith, Attoya Harvey and Adriel Austin qualified for the Games. Smith, 18, punched her ticket in the 100m, Tyndall (long jumper) and Gibbons (javelin) qualified in the field events while Austin and Harvey went under the qualifying standard in the 800m and 1500m respectively
Tomorrow’s activities should be highly competitive as there are several rivalries among the teen track and field stars in Guyana.
According to President of the AAG, Aubrey Hutson, he expects in excess of 100 athletes competing for spots on the team. He stated that the current number of qualifiers could double or even triple as the association is catering for 15 representatives.
Below are the standards set by the AAG for the athletes to punch their tickets to Jamaica.
CARIFTA QUALIFYING STANDARDS
EVENTS MALE U -17 FEMALE U – 17 MALE U – 20 FEMALE U – 20 FEMALE OPEN
100m
11.00 12.10 10.55 11.80
200m
22.00 24.70 21.50 24.20
400m
50.00 57.00 48.00 55.50
800m
2:00.00 2:19.00 1:55.00 2:14.50
1500m
4:15.00 4:59.00 4:05.00 4:50.00
3000m
9:20.00 10:50.00
5000m
16:00.00
Shot Put
13.60m 12.50m17.00m12.50m
Javelin
55.00m40.50m60.00m40.50m
Discus
45.00m35.00m52.00m40.00m
Long Jump
6.70m 5.50m 7.10m 5.70m
Triple Jump
13.50m11.60m14.90m12.60m
High Jump
1.85m 1.60m 2.00m 1.70m
