Guyanese javelin thrower making impact
By Leeron Brumell
Guyana Chronicle
January 9, 2004
FEW persons follow the progress made by Guyanese athletes who are overseas.
National Junior throwing champion Stanwick Thomas is soaring to new heights with his trusty friend, the Javelin.
Thomas, a past student of The Bishops’ High School, migrated in 2000 to start a new life and further his athletic ability and today he is ranked number 2 in his conference -- the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) -- in the javelin.
He has notched up a second-place and a third-place since competing in 2003 in the outdoor season.
In Guyana his personal best distances were 54 metres in the javelin, 37m in the discus and 13.1 in the shot put, but his efforts are now solely on the javelin.
His personal best record is now 57m (approximately 186 feet), which was marked in his last season.
He placed second to an athlete from Marist who recorded a throw of 59m.
Thomas, who was noted for throwing the javelins out of the school’s compound during inter-house competitions, says the record in his conference was set sometime in 1986 with a throw of over 208 feet but he was prepared to go the distance.
“Actually it is pretty high, something like 208 feet, but the record for the MAAC is around 60m, so I'm going for that,” the 6-foot, 195-pound athlete said.
At the moment, it is the indoor season in his conference, which lasts for approximately five months, before moving into the outdoor season.
This season he said belongs to him, because he will be aiming for the top spot in all his meets.
“Well for the most part I'm just doing indoor just to get back into the flow of things. If you could just see the size of these people you would understand.
I just do my best indoors, try to get ready for my outdoor season, try and get some points for our school.
For the past two outdoor seasons I got a second and a third, this time I’m going for first, I’ve been lifting and training like crazy.”
The athlete who has been unbeaten on the local scene since the late 1990s has just over a year to compete at the St. Peter’s College in Jersey. He cherishes the hope of competing for Guyana once again, this time at the highest level.
“I have a year and a half left, before I graduate, so that’s my focus. In two years I just want a comfortable life, a good job. If I could continue I will ... hopefully represent GT (Georgetown) sometime but that depends on how much I progress from now until then.”
The past Atoms Athletics Club athlete is the first of three children. Brothers are Pierre, who is playing College basketball, and Kevin. They are the sons of Florence and Gary Thomas.
His father was a bodybuilder.
Thomas represented Guyana at two Inter-Guiana Games and also competed at the annual Hampton Games in Trinidad and Tobago.