Olympic qualifier Winston George claimed his first athlete of the year award while Natasha Alder claimed her second when the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) annual awards ceremony concluded last Saturday night at the Young Men’s Christian Association building (YMCA), Thomas Lands.
George, who initially was thought to have missed out on qualification for the London, 2012 Olympics after clocking 45.86s at the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (ALBA) games saw his dream turn into a reality after the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) released a revised qualifying standard for the event which stated that the ‘B’ class qualifying time for the 400 metres event had been lowered to 45.9s.
The revised IAAF time, according to president of the AAG, Colin Boyce, allowed George to accomplish the unique feat.
That feat literally landed George the AAG’s highest honor.
“This feels good to receive such an honor and it’s just another stepping stone in my career,” George told Stabroek Sport at the ceremony.
Alder, who was unable to make the award ceremony due to personal reasons, copped her second straight female athlete of the year award by being the most dominant field athlete last year especially at the President/Jefford Track Classic and the Joint Services annual athletics track and field meet.
Stephan James, 400m specialist, walked away with the junior male athlete of the year award after a prosperous 2011.
His biggest accomplishment was winning a bronze medal at the South American junior championships.
Two-time 1500 metres gold medalist at the Carifta Games, Jevina Straker, captured her second straight junior female athlete of the year award while 13-year-old Jevina Sampson grabbed the most promising young athlete award.
She was described as a future Olympian by Boyce for her successful exploits on the track last year.
Her biggest achievement was winning a 400 metres gold medal at the Inter Guiana Games (IGG).
The coach of the year award went to Lyndon Wilson of the Guyana Police Force track and field club for the second successive year.
He was responsible for coaching George to his Olympics qualifying standard.
The progamme, chaired by council member Amanda Hermonstine, saw Boyce giving a review of the year.
While Boyce noted that the year could have been better, he also expressed his disappointment when Cleveland Forde, who was named male runner up of the year, failed to attend the Pan American senior games.
Events and Sponsorship Manager of Digicel Gavin Hope who received a plaque from the AAG on behalf of Digicel, stated that Guyana’s bigger, better network will be preparing an athletic hamper for the male and female athlete of the year for both junior and senior categories.
Parliamentary Secretary within the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport Steve Ninvalle who delivered the feature address also promised to donate a monetary prize to Sampson who was bestowed with the promising young athlete award.
The night concluded with George speaking on behalf of the recipients while General Secretary Claude Blackmore performed the vote of thanks.
Awardees: Male athlete of the year – Winston George, Female athlete of the year – Natasha Alder, Junior male athlete of the year – Stephan James, Junior female athlete of the year – Jevina Straker, Coach of the year – Lyndon Wilson, Most promising young athlete of the year – Jevina Sampson, runner-up male athlete of the year – Cleveland Forde, runner female athlete of the year – Neisa Allen, runner-up junior male athlete of the year – Nathaniel Giddings, runner-up junior female athlete of the year – Melissa Byass, Technical Official of the year – Ingrid Holder and Council member of the year – Faye Naughton.
