A commendable fourth place finish in the final of the men’s 4x100m relay yesterday brought the curtain down on Team Guyana’s participation at the Commonwealth Games here in Birmingham, England.
On the last day of competition at the overflowing Alexander Stadium, the Akeem Stewart, Emanuel Archibald, Arinze Chance and Noelex Holder quartet narrowly missed the podium after clocking 40.05s in the blue riband event.
England (38.35s), Trinidad and Tobago (38.70s) and Nigeria (38.81s) were the podium dwellers in that order.
Team Guyana however created history as they were the first local foursome to progress to the final in the event at the quadrennial Games which started in 1930.
National 200m champion Stewart got the 592 off to a rocket start despite running out of lane eight. The 31 year-old from the GDF club had a smooth hand off to Archibald who seemingly collected the baton in second place.
Archibald, the national 100m champion who is based in Jamaica however lost some ground despite getting the baton into the firm grip of Chance, a 400m specialist based in the USA.
At this point, Team England, Trinidad and Nigeria were surging.
Cheers from the boisterous crowd filled the stadium as England’s Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake began to cover the field and take the lead.
A subpar handover by Chance, 26, to the 23-year-old Holder further cost the sprinters of the 592 as they ended the event agonizingly close in fourth.
In their post-race interview, the collective message was the need for more “reps” as a team in order to medal at events of such magnitude. A relay race is one of the most adrenaline-pumping sights in athletics and is viewed as the ultimate example of teamwork and coordination.
“Our race execution was not that good but we did our best and I must say I am proud of these guys” said Stewart, the elder statesman of the team.
Archibald added “Fourth place is not too bad, we are one step away from a medal, but we need more reps and opportunities to run together.”
Chance said that “We want to be on the podium. We came here not knowing what to expect because we just practiced together for three days including today. So we have to get more reps like this to break the record and medal at Games like these.”
The national record stands at 39.59s, set at the 1975 Pan Am Games in Mexico City by James Wren-Gilkes, Dennis Collison, Clifton Schultz and Aubrey Wilson.
Holder, the youngest speedster on the team stated that the quartet exceeded expectations by clinching a berth in the finals and vying for a medal but “We need more high level competitions like these to get better.”
Guyana was represented by 10 track and field athletes at the XX11 edition of the Games which concludes today with the closing ceremony at Alexander Stadium.
