Former national junior sprint champion Letitia Myles began her track and field career at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Inter Unit with two impressive performances on the track and in the field on day one of the GDF Inter Unit Championships yesterday.
The 18-year-old sprinter leapt into first place with a best effort of 4.9 metres to complete a dominant performance in the women’s long jump competition. Prior to bagging the long jump gold, Myles strided to a commanding win in heat one of the women’s 100m preliminaries.
Representing the joint battalion Special Force/Training Corps, Myles posted 12.4 seconds to win her heat ahead of Tinisha Dorway, Abigail Gordon and Ashanti Williams, who grabbed the fourth and final qualifying spot. Former GDF Inter Unit 100 and 200m champion Rushell Coates took placed an uncharacteristic fifth and will miss the final for the first time in close to three years.
Myles, who finished the Basic Recruitment Course last July, said that she was also looking forward to today’s 200m preliminaries which she hopes to win in similar fashion. The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games participant said that she only recently resumed training after completing the BRC course but thinks she is in good enough shape to capture the sprint double.
The main challenge in both the 100m and 200m for Myles will come for Base Camp Ayanganna rank Tiffany Smith who won her 100m heat in the same time as Myles. Although, this is Myles’ rookie year in the GDF, she trained alongside Smith in the GDF track club as a civilian athlete.
In the men’s sprint, newcomer Akeem Stewart and Dellon Henry could spoil national sprint champion Rupert Perry’s return to the track today. Perry, who recently recovered from an ankle fracture indicated that he only plans to compete in the men’s 200m. But the 2011 Inter Services Athletic Championships sprint chamn will have to compete with Stewart and Henry who both were impressive in their respective heats of other events.
Stewart clocked 10.4s to win his heat of the men’s 100m, while Henry powered to a stunning win ahead of Leslain Baird in 49.6 seconds to win heat one of the men’s 400m. Both competitors are slated to compete in the 200m final along with Patrick King who also won his 100m and 400m heat. With such performances, it certainly will not be a walk in the park for Perry to advance to the finals.
