Patrick King and Rupert Perry unleashed awesome displays of top end speed to disfigure the previous meet records in the sprint races on the final day of Guyana Defence Force Inter Unit Championships at the GDF ground Camp Ayanganna on Friday.
King did not get the sprint sweep that he had been after, but he was more than pleased with his performances during the meet. The 22-year-old Defence Headquarters lance corporal completed two impressive wins in the 100m and 400m races in record time.
“I wasn’t even feeling like if I was in any sort of shape, so to run like this really shock me,” King said. The former Inter Services Athletic Championships (ISAC) quarter mile champion stormed to victory ahead of teammate Akeem Stewart in the men’s 100m.
King did not get the best of starts but once he executed his drive phase, he progressively separated himself from the field. King crossed the line in 10.2s to eclipse three-time GDF sprint champion Quinse Clarke’s meet record. Stewart placed second in 10.5s while Davin Fraser of Base Camp Ayanganna (BCA) placed third in 10.7s. Clarke and Perry did not compete in the 100m this year.
Later in the day, King returned to reign in his pet event where he literally ran adversary Darren Henry into the ground. King posted his fastest 400m time ever(48.8s) while Leslain Baird took second in 49.6s and Adrian Corlette third in 53.1s. Henry shot out early to try to upset King but exhausted himself, fell prey to fatigue and ended up creeping across the line in fourth.
After being side-lined from the track for close to six months due to an ankle injury, Perry looked powerful in the 200m, posting a pulsating personal best time of 20.1s. Perry’s break out race was almost two years ago at ISAC 2010 when he clocked 20.8s to defeat Olympian Winston George.
This time, Perry powered around the bend in lane five, making up the apparent deficit of the athletes in the six and seven about 20m before he reached the straight. Perry gave it all he had on the homestretch and was pleased to behold his fastest ever recorded time and meet record over the distance.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to run such a remarkable time after all those months away from track,” Perry said.
When asked how of a much of a factor was the wind to his new hand-timed personal best, Perry said, “Well after I ran such a hard turn I just pushed myself and go home with the breeze…It helped a lot.
Perry’s teammates from DHQ King (20.4) and Stewart (20.7) also recorded their personal best time, placing second and third respectively and even fourth place finisher Henry ran under 21 seconds. Perry, who is a 22-year old lance corporal said that he felt that the press of trying hold off King, Stewart and the other competitors pushed him to smash the record because he was aware of how fast his opponents had been running recently.
Eighteen year-old rookie at the Inter Unit level Letitia Myles who was favoured to capture the sprint double, fell short of expectations after false starting in the women’s 100m. In her absence, defending champion Tiffany Smith of (BCA) won the race in 12.6s, while MaureecSkeete placed second in 12.8s while TineshaDorrway of Base Camp Stevenson (BCS) took a distant third in 12.9s. Myles made no mistake in the 200m, clocking 24.5s to gap second place finisher Smith (24.9s) and ShoniceHalton (27.4) who took third.
Smith won the women’s 400m in Myles absence which was enough to get her tied on points with Ashanti Scott for the champion athlete prize. Scott won the women’s 3000m on Wednesday and finished off the competition with a 1500m victory and second place finish in the 800m.
Baird won the Javelin and triple jump competitions and his second place finish in the 400m gave him enough point to tie with King for champion athlete prize. Cleveland Forde 4:03.6 to win the men’s 1500m ahead of TyshonBentick (4:08.7) and Jamal Chisholm (4:24.3). Forde did not compete in the 800m, and in his absence Bentick complete a well execute race in 1:57.
