Seniors could steal show at junior trials
by Candyss Odle
Stabroek News
March 22, 2003
It is the junior Carifta trials but two senior athletes are set to take centre stage instead.
Sprinters Rawle Green and Andre Blackman tied for honours as the Amateur Athletic Association of Guyana’s male athlete for last year.
That tie, however, will be broken today when the two men clash in the 100m with the title of Guyana’s fastest man being at stake.
The venue is the Uitvlught Community Development Centre ground.
Though the 100m is expected to be a straight fight between Green and Blackman, the fast rising sprinter Keith Roberts could just throw a spanner in the works.
And the fireworks is not set only for the sprint events.
With the AAAG’s decision to allow the junior and senior long distance runners to compete together the stage is set for some interesting finishes.
Talented junior long distance athlete Cleveland Forde will throw down the gauntlet to senior athletes like Colin Mercurius and Lionel D’Andrade in his pet event, the 3000m.
Also in action today will be Tai Payne of Atoms Athletic Club who will compete in the 800m Open.
Some Carifta hopefuls who will be on show include Derwin Eastman, who represented Guyana at the last CAC games and is a member of the “Gold Squad”. He will contest the U-17 category of the 800 and 1500m events, while, on the female side, long distance junior athlete Jennifer Chichester will receive a stern test from Delicia Dick of the New Amsterdam track club.
The U-15 category was not added to the AAAG’s programme of events for the championships scheduled to start today at 10:30am.
According to President of the AAAG, Claude Blackmoore, there was no time for the category to be added, as they, already had a packed programme with the existing categories.
The AAAG had hoped to add the U-15 category to the championship’s programme to compensate for the recent cancellation of the Guyana Teacher’s Union Annual National Cycling and Athletics championships caused by the teacher’s strike, and to allow the athletes who would have already been prepared for the GTU’s championships, to participate at the AAAG’s championships.
The events that are expected to be run off today are Shot Put and Javelin Finals (Boys and girls U-17,U-20 and Open men and women),100m Finals (Boys and girls U-17, U-20 and Open men and women,) 400m Finals (boys and girls U-17, U-20 and open men and women), 1500m Finals (boys and girls U-17, U-20 and Open men and women), 10,000m Finals (boys U-20 and open men) and the 4x100m Finals (boys and girls U-17).
The championships conclude tomorrow.
