By Kiev Chesney
Manager of this year’s Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) athletics team, Lynden Wilson, is confident that the athletics team will maintain its winning streak at the 2008 IGG which starts today in Suriname.
“In all the years that Guyana has participated in the athletics phase of the IGG, we have never lost and although we have a young team, I am confident that we are strong enough to maintain this winning record,” Wilson told Stabroek Sport in an exclusive interview prior to the team’s departure yesterday morning. “Yesterday at the President’s Invitational Grand Prix, the majority of the athletes on the team participated and although they may not have won their events, I saw significant improvement in most of their personal times and race strategies,” he declared.
Wilson identified seven athletes who he said performed exceptionally well at the President’s Invitational Grand Prix on Sunday in Treiston Joseph, Letitia Myles, Phyllycia Burke, Carlissa Atkinson, Janella Jonas and Carlwyn Collins.
“I allowed most of the athletes to compete because I know that they would try to raise their competition level since it was such an important meet and secondly because they were competing among some of the country’s top seniors, which would automatically push them to run their best,” he said.
Joseph and Collins were two of the athletes who turned in personal best times on Sunday.
Joseph clocked a blistering 22.4s in the 200m to place third while Collins ran his competition best of 52.0s in the 400m to place third.
Wilson also addressed the concerns that arose regarding the absence of the country’s premier female athlete Alika Morgan who is currently injured.
“Not having Alika is not a major loss, because although she is the country’s long distance queen, I think that her replacements have realized that they need to step up based on their performance in training and in competition lately, I think they can,” he said.
Atkinson and Alika’s training partner Jonas will pick up the slack in the middle and long distance events.
