With only three days to the President’s/Jefford Track and Field Classic the burning question is which club will run way with the $500,000 first place prize.
The rapidly growing track event, which is held at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground in Linden, has seen two different winners in its two previous editions with National Park United winning in 2010 and Police Sports Club lifting the first place trophy last year.
While the international events feature Burnett and Grenada’s Kenisha Pascal, the May 20 event in Linden is shaping up to be an intriguing clash among the best clubs in Guyana.
The Police Sports Club, the defending champions, will definitely has the best chance of retaining the title. There is no club in the country with their all-round capabilities, especially when it comes to the field events. Coach of the club and current AAG coach of the year, Lyndon Wilson, said that his athletes are positive in their quest to defend their championship.
“We are going out there with positive vibes to defend our championship like champions,” Wilson told Stabroek Sport.
Wilson also spoke of his club’s preparation over the past couple of weeks leading up to the championships. “Well, the last two or three weeks we have been hampered by the weather but to some extent it has been a blessing in disguise for the athletes to gain some rest due to the past couple of weeks of heavy competition.
“We are doing some work, not as much as we want to, but enough to keep in shape for the meet,” Wilson stated via telephone.
Knowing that the defending champions have been dominant in the field events, Stabroek Sport questioned Wilson on whether he thinks that area will be the deciding factor to a second straight title.
“While we have been performing well throughout the course of the year, winning the Under-23 Games, we can’t take any club for granted and my prediction is once we perform well as a club we will win, especially if we do well in all areas, especially in the field events,” Wilson commented.Probably the biggest threat to the Police is the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sports Club which defeated them by one point at last year’s Joint Services Championships. Their coach, Robert Chisholm, said he believes that Guyana’s military men can finally add the track classic to their many accolades.
“Well I know it will be very close but we can win it. We have a number of pieces to get it this time around,” Chisholm stated.
GDF has shown progress in the two years of the competition as they finished third in 2010 and second last year.
“We are moving up, so that only means that we have to win it this time around,” Chisholm commented on the progress of his troops.
The army will be without their leading sprinters in Quinse Clarke and Rupert Perry who probably would have accounted for close to 35 points but they are on a training stint in Jamaica.
“It will always be a setback because they are the best but we have athletes here that will have to hold their own. But I won’t make no predictions. I’m waiting on the day but it will be a fight… I can guarantee it won’t be a walkover like last year,” Chisholm told Stabroek Sport.
Co-coach of the Running Brave Athletic Club, Sham Johnny, indicated to Stabroek Sport that his club will be coming with a V-12 engine to reclaim the championship they won as the main part of the National Park United team, as they have now opted to go solo.
“This time around it will be different; we are firing on all cylinders and any club that wants the championship has to go through Running Brave,” Johnny stated boldly.
Johnny then dissected the reasons for the club’s downfall last year while shinning a light on what will make Running Brave the force to be reckoned with come May 20.
“Well last year we didn’t have athletes in all the events and what you found is that GDF and Police had a combination of points so we were handicapped there, along with that we had injury issues. “The advantage we have now is that we will have athletes in all the events while we know that GDF will cut some of Police points from them. We will also have an advantage in the senior events, especially the females and the records have shown that once you win the female side you win overall,” Johnny commented.
Talking about the Police strong point which is the field event category, Johnny basically stated, “We will be coming firing on all cylinders and if they think our filed events are weak we have another think coming for them so they better watch out for us,” Johnny boldly stated.
