When daylight faded, a generator arrived but there was no technician to connect it to lines of the Mackenzie Sports Club and the ground remained in darkness, with the announcer begging car owners to go onto the ground to turn on their lights. Two vehicles responded.

The Open 5 000 metres race had begun just as light was fading but halfway through, the athletes could not be recognised from the stands.

However, in the opening laps of the 16-lap race, Forde took the lead early and D’Andrade kept with him for nine laps, but the junior athlete moved ahead steadily, leaving his senior behind to eventually finish the race by more than half a lap.

Forde was exempted from the recent National Championships at Uitvlugt on medical grounds. He was still shortlisted by the Amateur Athletic Association of Guyana for the Carifta Games but would have to be cleared by a medical certificate and participate in the Rose Hall, Canje meet staged by the New Amsterdam Track Club on April 13.

Coach Leslie Black told Chronicle Sport: “He is fit and ready to repeat the Carifta gold. He will be at the Rose Hall meet.”

Another race with much interest was the 100 metres Women’s Open in which Beverly Selman turned the tables of National champion Alisha Foster, with Rushell Cort placing third.

In National championships Selman was third, with Foster clinching the title and Michelle Vaughn placing second.

The Men’s dash went to Keith Roberts who again beat athletics Sportsman-of-the-Year Rawle Green, while Alan Gravesande placed third. Roberts placed second to the National champion Andre Blackman at Uitvlugt, with Green third.

Ten-year-old Carlisa Atkinson defied her age to place second in the 3 000 metres Girls Under-17 event, but Leanna Doris comfortably finished first and Delicia Dick was a distant third.

On the cycling track, Marlon Williams was the pick of the riders, comfortably carting off both Junior races, with Jorge Emerson playing second fiddle and Travis Mendonca placing third, in the five-lap event then in the 10-lap.

Darren Allen captured both the Juvenile three- and five-lap races. Albert Philander placed second in the three-lapper and third in the five laps, while Travis Crandon was third in the former and second in the latter.

The excitement was in the Veterans Under-45 category, with Linden Blackman triumphing in the five-lapper, Vaughn Phillips finishing second and Virgil Jones third. The same order was in the three-lapper.

In categories 1 & 2, Andrew Reece won a clever ten-lap race, attacking from outside to grab the lead, coming from behind on the turn with two laps to go, and surprising Warren McKay and Tyrone Hamilton with the move, which left them in a bunch. A fight ensued in the bunch for a distant second place, with McKay taking the slot and Dwayne Gibbs placing third.

Dwayne Gibbs had earlier taken the five-lapper, in a close finish with McKay placing second and Gerald Fowler third.

Categories 3 & 4 champion rider was Ian Jackson who won both the five-lap and ten-lap events. John Charles placed second in the former, followed by Mark Lewis, while Shawn Alves came second in the latter and Samuel Barker Jnr third.

John Hamilton and Rupert Baichan shared honours in the upright races, with Hamilton taking the first five-lap event and Baichan turning the table in the other.

The Full Figure Women defied their weight to produce an entertaining 150 metres race, with Caren Briggs taking top honours, followed by Sharon Sutherland and Denise Skeete.

In the 800 metres for Under-14 Girls, Donna April beat Balty Dick, while only the winner was recorded for the Men’s 800 metres - Roberto Inniss.

Despite the administrative teething problems, the events were staged smoothly one after the other after a late start. It was an encouraging and welcome beginning for each club to stage its own meet to give athletes much needed competition.

The AAAG did not sanction the meet, because a three-month notice is required for checks to ensure that certain criteria are met to stage a meet properly.