By Treiston Joseph
Police Progressive Youth Club (PPYC) walked away with their second straight victory at the Under-23 Games hosted by the Athletics Association of Guyana at the Eve Leary Sports Club Ground yesterday.
The meet, which was sponsored by Digicel, was declared open by Digicel’s Event and Sponsorship Manager, Gavin Hope.
“I see the AAG making progress with such an initiative to give the athletes now transitioning from juniors to seniors a chance to continue to shine and I must commend the government on the building of the track so the talent we have can develop,” the former national sprinter declared.
“So I see Guyana making great strides in athletics in the next 2-3 years,” Hope told Stabroek Sport.
The meet, which was started last year to bridge the divide between juniors advancing to the senior level, saw Stephan James turning in a personal best time of 49.20s, outsprinting Patrick King in the final of the 400 metres.
“I did my PB but I know I can go faster because I didn’t feel the usual build up of lactic acid in my muscle in the dying metres of the race,” James stated.
Earlier in the day the men’s 100 metres final was drama filled when junior sprint champion, Chavez Ageday pulled up in the final 40 metres which saw Winston Caesar winning in 10.4s despite a commanding start from Cortez Fraser who finished second in 10.6s.
Patrick King took the men’s 200 metres in 21.70s, his only challenge coming from James who clocked 21.90s for the second position.
Nathaniel Giddings also produced an outstanding performance when he won the men’s 5000 metres in 16:44.20s leaving Tyshon Bentick, winner of the 1500 metres earlier, trailing in a time of 17:18.30s.
On the distaff side Neisa Allen owned the sprint events when she won the 100, 200 and 400 metres in 12.20s, 25.40s and 1:01.40s respectively.
Seasoned distance campaigner Alika Morgan failed to replicate Allen’s dominance in her distance races when she won both the 800 metres and the 1500 metres but was disqualified in the 3000 metres.
Morgan who was present in the call room at the time of the 3000 metres was disqualified by the official for not answering her name which caused a bit of controversy between Leslie Black and the standing official. Tisha Grimes emerged victorious in the event clocking 12:56.90s.
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) showed its team spirit when they ran off with the men’s 4×100, 4×400 and the 1500 metres sprint medley relays while Police females mirrored the GDF men in winning the same events.
The meet was won by the GPF which earned $150,000 for their efforts with the GDF team second and carting off $100,000.
Brave Stars a mixture of the Running Braves and Rising Stars athletic clubs received $50,000 for placing third.
“I’m elated and excited at the moment but I think this year the competition was more competitive to last year and I must commend the clubs on the level of competition they provided but as foe my club we came out with a plan and executed it,” Linden Wilson coach of the Police club told Stabroek Sport after the victory.
Meanwhile the AAG’s season will continue next week with the staging of the Lin/West games at Lenora on the West Coast of Demerara.
