In an unprecedented move by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) the 2007 national inter-club relay meeting held at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary, last Sunday was ruled null and void.
President of the AAG, Claude Blackmore had told the media after the event on Sunday that he wanted to make it clear that there were a number of “anomalies” at the event which the AAG would have been looking into.
The decision to rule the relay meeting null and void was made last Wednesday at a special meeting called by the AAG to handle the issue coming out of the contest that trickled down to a one-on-one battle between two Georgetown-based clubs.
The two clubs, Royal Youth Movement (RYM) and Progressive Youth Club (PYC), were at the meeting along with Upper Demerara. The New Amsterdam Track Club was invited but was absent from the forum.
Despite the “anomalies” which included athletes running outside their age groups and for clubs without holding membership, a count was taken after the event and PYC was declared winners ahead of defending champions, RYM.
In a release sent to Stabroek Sport, Blackmore in his opening remarks condemned the scheming by local clubs to ensure that they come out on top.
“The event left a distasteful atmosphere after it was discovered in some instances athletes ran out of their age categories: older athletes ran in lower categories and there was the soliciting of athletes from one club to represent another,” the release said.
While congratulating the clubs for a competitive and entertaining event, Blackmore said it was evident that winning was the ‘end all’ and ‘be all’. “It’s good to win, but at all costs (including cheating) is not the way athletics should go,” the release advised.
The move to declare the relay meeting null and void on Wednesday meant that PYC merely held the crown for three days after coming away with 214 points ahead of RYM with 202 points after the count last Sunday.
However, at the start of the meeting clubs were furnished with a revised copy of the results following deliberations but after the decision to declare the event null and void, the sheets with the new results were discarded.
According to the release, representatives of RYM and PYC raised a number of queries on the amended results but both clubs came to the conclusion that the best solution was to have a re-run of the national inter-club relay meeting
Therefore, the AAG’s council will set a new date, venue and time for the re-run of the event later this year. This information will also be communicated to the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF).
Blackmore in the release blamed both the association and local clubs for the events that transpired at the relay meeting and said the line has now been drawn in Guyana. He said the association would look into the transfer of athletes from one club to another within one year.
Previously, when an athlete was registered with a club at the beginning of the year he/she was deemed ineligible to compete for another club until the next season. The AAG will attempt to address that issue during the window period of the calendar year.
