Winning three sprint events, Vreed-en-Hoop Secondary student Tandika Burgess ruled the day on Thursday at the West Demerara District No.3 Inter-Branch Athletics Championships at the Uitvlugt Community Centre ground.
Burgess won the 100m, 200m and 400m events in the girls under-18 category. In the 100m Burgess was challenged by second place finisher Deon Armstrong and Ronetta Evelyn of Patentia Secondary who was third.
However, Evelyn upped her pace for the 200m and 400m events, and while Burgess still proved to be more than she could handle, she secured second place finishes in both events.
In the boys category Carl Tudor of Branch Two Uitvlugt Secondary came just short of duplicating Burgess’ feat but he did not enter the 400m.
In the 100m, Tudor got to the finishing line ahead of Andrea Bernard of Branch Six Patentia Secondary while Shellon Austin of Branch Three was third.
In the 200m, Tudor was first and Branch Four Akeem Orna finished second while Branch Six Quasy Bernard was third.
Burgess was a part of the winning Branch Four that accumulated a massive 758.5 points while Tudor helped second place rivals Branch Two to 700.5 points by the end of the championships.
Off by one point Branch Six finished at 679.5 points, a significant gap away from the 585.5 points accumulated by fourth place finisher Branch Three.
An even bigger gap away Branch One was fifth with 447.5 points, Branch Five was sixth with 327 points, and Branch Seven with 226 points stood in the cellar at seventh position.
In the under-20 category the sprints once again revved up the crowd, and the 100m event was captured by Patentia Secondary’s Kevin Lindo, while his schoolmate Roger Henry dominated the 200m sprint. The 400m went to Delon Gradison of Branch Two.
In the 100m, Branch Four’s Kelvin Adonis managed to hold on to a second place finish ahead of Richard Croft in third place, while over in the 200m Henry found light competition in Jeffrey McAlmont and Croft secured another third place spot.
For the female performances in the under-20 division Branch Four’s Fiona Mars dominated the 100m and 400m. However Mars could not hold her own in the 200m but managed to finish third behind Lafancy Barinton, who had gotten another second behind Mars in the 100m. But neither of the two were able to overtake Denesca McIntyre who grabbed the first place.
Over in the girls under-16 category McIntyre’s sibling, Kimberley also took control of the 200m and also had an easy take of the 100m. Tevin Garraway also did a double take in the boys’ under-16 category with his 100m and 200m wins.
Performing notably in the junior categories Patentia Primary’s Cicellia Bailey superbly won the girls under-12 1,000m race and Althea Parjohn came up with first place finishes in the 100m, 200m and 400m of the girls under-10 category.
