National long jump champion Leon Bishop jumped his way to glory when the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) held a mini meet to compensate for the postponed under-23 championships trials yesterday at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary.
Bishop, always the alpha male in the jumps, lost his triple jump national title to Troy Williams this year but had some measure of revenge yesterday by out jumping the national champion in the triple jump with a distance of 12.89 metres which was easily the best event of the day.
Williams was way off his game as he fell to third with a jump of 12.51 metres. Maurice Gibson jumped his way to the second position with a jump of 12.81 metres.
National junior 100 metres Chavez Ageday champion blasted his way to victory over his long time rival Stephan James (not known for his 100 metres prowess) clocking 10.60s while James clocked 10.80s. Tevin Garraway was third in 11.15s.
James, however, returned later in the day to take the men’s 200 metres in 21.9s while Shawn Semple was second in 22.4s.
In the men’s 400 metres, Semple barely crossed the line ahead of Trinidadian Odon Hazel in 49.4s with Hazel clocking 49.5s after running a brilliant 300 metres.
Dennis Horatio ran comfortably to take the men’s 5000 metres in 17:22.38s as second place finisher Winston Messinger finished a distant second with a time of 18:03.96s.
Messinger also came up short in the men’s 1500 metres, this time falling to Inter Guiana Games silver medalist Ornesto Thomas who clocked first position in a time of 4:20.8s while Messinger finished second in 4:22.8s.
However, fortunes changed for Thomas in the men’s 800 metres as he came up short to Devon Barrington who won the event in a time 2:00.00s while Thomas crossed the line for second in 2:02.04s.
On the distaff side Neisa Allen claimed a sprint double winning the 100 and 200 metres in times of 12.5s and 25.1s respectively.
In the female 800 metres it was a battle of the CARIFTA medalists as the two-time 1500 metres gold medalist Jervina Straker went against her club mate in the 1500 metres, bronze medalist Andre Foster.
However, Straker showed her superiority by destroying her club mate in a time of 2:23.04s while Foster placed second in a time of 2:30.01s.
Straker then entered the women’s 400 metres, an unfamiliar event for the middle distance star but lost to her clubmate Natrena Hooper who ran a time of 59.0s. Straker was impressive as she ran a sub-60, 400 metres with a time of 59.5s while Natricia Hooper completed a one, two, three sweep for the Running Brave club as she finished third in 59.9s.
Police ran away with the male and female 4×100 metres relays while Running Brave showcased its all-round talent by claiming the male and female sprint medley events.
The under-23 championship trials will now be held on the September 1 and 2 at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary.
