Says Treiston Joseph
One factor clouded the overall success of Sunday’s President’s/Jefford Track Classic at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground in Linden.
Rain robbed the meet’s organizers of what could have been indeed a classical meet especially with the return of Linden’s own and Commonwealth bronze medalist Marian Burnett.
Athletes including Burnett were forced to compete in testing and watery conditions which could have caused many injuries.
However, despite the conditions, it was evident by the athletes’ willingness to compete along with the overflow of people that packed the bleachers of the Mackenzie ground, that they knew what the meet could have been, if the sun was out.
A number of positives came out at the track classic that was evident compared to last year which had a number of glitches.
One, the meet started on time despite the bad weather on the day, as was not the case last year.
Two, the organizers had most things in place compared to last year that saw the second edition of the meet being conducted without the blast of the gun until midway into the event.
Three, the on field officiating, while not always the quality expected, was somewhat better despite the rain, which was another definite improvement of the meet.
Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, Steve Ninvalle commended the organizers of the event despite the rain.
“Well we at the sports ministry would like to take our hats off to the organizers of the event. The rain that fell is just a testament that Guyana needs a synthetic track which is under construction.
“We think that the meet will improve athletics in Guyana and we stand ready to support the organizers of the event to make the next edition a greater success,” Ninvalle told Stabroek Sport.
However, despite the organizers improving the meet, they will have to make a decision whether or not to keep the meet in Linden due to the state of the ground or move the date from May since the weather pattern is becoming consistent again.
It will also be interesting to see when the Lenora synthetic track is completed what the organizers will do especially once the meet grows.
The Mackenzie Sports Club ground will be unable to hold a capacity crowd especially if the meet starts to draw big names, if it is recognized regionally and internationally.
Looking forward to next year, not only a better ground is anticipated since Ansa McAl is to make improvements to the Linden ground but a better level of competition is expected from the meet.
Further it will be interesting to see what more the organizers will do to make the event bigger and better to attract more recognition.
