-says Marian Burnett
Guyana’s two-time Olympian Marian Burnett says that she is currently battling with an injury which she suffered while in training but made it clear that she would be fully fit in time for the July 12-22 Caribbean Games which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago.
Speaking with Stabroek Sports from her home in New York, Burnett said running at the Caribbean Games will be a special moment for her since this would be the inaugural staging of the event.
But the former NCAA all-American while sounding very upbeat mentioned that she’s now about 70% fit since she has a rib injury and this has caused her to run some of her worst times in the 800 and 1500 metres.
“Right now I’m getting into shape, doing some 1500’s to see where I stand…my fitness is there, but my rib injury really did a number on me. But I’ll be fine in time for the games, I don’t want to make any promises and so on, but I’ll be fit and ready for the games,” Burnett said.
She added: “My timings are terrible, not good at all…I did two minutes four seconds in the 800 in Jamaica earlier in the year and four minutes 23 seconds in the 1500, that’s why I’ve turned down plenty overseas games because I don’t want to go out there and I’m not up to par. It would only mess with my times right now, but I need to just see where I stand before the games.”
Towards that objective Burnett would be heading to Jamaica to compete on June 24 and she believes this would give her an opportunity to assess her fitness and stamina leading up to the Caribbean Games.
She would be competing against Grenadian Olympian 28-year-old Neisha Bernard-Thomas who is also her training partner.
At 33 Burnett has been creating waves in the US where she competes, claiming a number of accolades including piloting the Essex County College and the Louisiana State University (LSU) to championship honours.
While in College, Burnett was NCAA 2002 800m Indoor Champion, NJCAA 800m Champion (2001), NJCAA Indoor 800m Champion (2001), NJCAA Indoor 3,000m Runner-up (2001), NJCAA Indoor 5,000m Runner-Up (2001) and NJCAA Indoor Mile Finalist (2001).
At present Burnett holds the national record in the 800 metres event by clocking 1:59.47 and in the process she became the first Guyanese to run under the two-minute mark in the event.
The former Mackenzie High School student has only managed to make it into the semi-finals of the 800 metres once and this was at the 2004 Athens Games when she ran 2:02. However, in 2008 when the games were held in Beijing, Burnett lowered her time by doing 2:02.02 despite not getting past the heats.
Regionally, she is a 1999 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) 1500m Bronze Medallist and 2003 Pan American Games Silver Medallist.
Burnett will be joining other overseas based athletes, Aliann Pompey, Jermey Bascom, Adam Harris and Lee Prowell and locals Alika Morgan, Cleveland Ford and Kelvin Johnson as they seek to bring Guyana glory at the 2009 Caribbean Games.