Revenge will be at the back of Dennis Horatio’s mind today at the Enmore ground when he faces nemesis from the Rupununi, Cletius James in the under-20 boys 5,000 metre race in the national youth and junior championships.
The Athletic Association of Guyana combined national junior and senior championships would get underway from 9:30am at the Enmore Community Centre ground where the country’s best athletes will vie for national selection.
James placed a spoke in Horatio’s wheels last year in the 5,000 m when he denied Horatio his fourth gold medal at the Guyana Teachers’ Union annual national schools’ track and field championships.
The contest between James and Horatio last year was one of the most entertaining events with Horatio complaining about burnout after the shocking defeat. He will be fresh today and so will James.
Coach of the Rupununi Athletics and Sports Academy (RASA), Brian Rodrigues told Stabroek Sport that James is in good condition. He predicted that the athlete would inflict a second consecutive whipping on Horatio.
“He (James) has been training from around January this year, he will beat Horatio again on Sunday (today),” Rodrigues said, while stating that sadly the only time Guyana gets a peep at athletes from the Rupununi is at the school championships.
James’ training partners, Clinton Antone and Hezron Pedro will also be attempting to stake their claims today. Antone comes up against Lionel D’Anrade and Colin Mecurius in the senior 5,000 m race while Pedro competes in the under-17 category.
Antone is a former junior national champion while Pedro won the under-16 boys 3,000m at last year’s national schools championships. The Rupununi contingent will be looking to sweep the junior and senior distance events today.
Dominant female junior and senior distance athlete, Alika Morgan will be more or less running against time at Enmore while Keith Roberts will feed off a recent controversial victory at the Royal Games over Rawle Greene in the men’s 100 m race.
Afeez Samad comes up against his old club mate from Royal Youth Movement (RYM), Phillip Drayton in the under-20 boys 400 and 800 m races while RYM’s Rhondel ‘Cobra’ Adams makes his bid in the senior 400 m event.
Adams will face stern opposition from archrivals Tai Payne and Trevor Scotland. Payne and Scotland will also compete in the men’s 800 m against Jermaine Pilgrim. The 800 m is expected to provide as much heat as the 400 m.
