By Treiston Joseph
Trinidad-based Guyanese and former 400 metres Schools National Champion Phillip Drayton will be looking to make good his debut at the Southern Games trials in Trinidad and Tobago on the March 13 at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella from 10:00 hrs.
According to Drayton, the trials will be used as qualifiers for the Southern Games and while the trials will be held on a synthetic track, the games will be held on a grass track which will most likely call for some type of adjustment by the athletes who qualify, since they are more familiar with the synthetic track.
In a telephone interview with Stabroek Sport, Drayton commented on training in Trinidad compared to Guyana: “Well the training in both countries are pretty much the same, the only differences are that Trinidad have several synthetic tracks and Guyana have none. The progression of athletes in Trinidad is directly based on the evaluation of every error, technique faults and nutrients intake of any particular athlete by staff that is specialized or qualified in the given fields, while in Guyana it’s all based on how hard you train and how much experience you have.”
Stabroek Sport also asked Drayton about his preparation for the trials: “The preparations for the past several months were terrific! I’m where I’m supposed to be. The season recently started so I’ll find that I won’t be running as fast as I would like to, but nevertheless I have goals to reach and standards to accomplish which was implied by my coaching staff.”
While Drayton was a regular participant in the 400 and 800 metres in Guyana, he will now take on the new challenge of running the 200 metres while maintaining his ties with the 400 metres.
“For the past several months I have been training for both the 200 and 400m races. I was cautioned about running my normal events 400 and 800 metres since there’s not really a general programme for such events. One race requires an aerobic workout while the other is anaerobic, hence making that workout insufficient and above normal. After being evaluated by both coaching staff and fitness consultant based on my technique and room for development I was recommended to run the 200 and 400m and since then rapid improvements have been made throughout the few months,” he stated.
Drayton also expressed his expectations of himself: “Well my goal in the 400m is around the standard set by the coaching staff which is 48.60sec and since it will be my first time running the 200m race, I’ll be focusing on just executing my race plan and what has been taught as effectively as possible and hopefully turn in a time somewhere around the early 22secs mark. These goals are easy to achieve so I’m going to go out there and put these timings in my pocket.”
Drayton who ran his last competitive race in Guyana at a development meet early last year turning in a time of 51.3s in the 400 metres will be looking to make an impression at the trials and probably signal to the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) his availability for possible selection on national teams.
