Champions of the 2011 Inter Services Athletics Championships (ISAC) the Guyana Defence Force are winding down the preparations as they hope to successfully defend their title in this year’s edition of the event which is less than two weeks away.
GDF hosted the event last year on their home field and managed to dethrone the Guyana Police Force in dramatic fashion with a stunning one-point win.
This year, ISAC will be held on the GPF’s home turf, the Police Sports Club ground Eve Leary, October 22-26. The last time the event was held at that venue, several records were broken and GPF ran away with a landslide victory.
Coach of the GDF team Robert Chisholm agreed that defeating GPF team on their home field will be a tough task but expressed much confidence in his team’s ability to do so. Chisholm said that although the final team has not yet been selected, he was impressed with the performance of the athletes in the squad.
On Friday, the team participated in time trials and according to Chisholm it was a very beneficial activity to the training and selection process.
“The time trials were good. I was impressed with the performances but they’re not quite where I want them to be but they will get there in the next two weeks,” Chisholm said.
The former coach of the year and Level III IAAF certified coach said that the time trials gave him the opportunity to see where the athletes were at present and what final adjustments needed to be made before the competition.
Judging by their performances so far, Chisholm told Stabroek Sport, “I think they have a good chance of winning.”
The GDF team is likely to include defending ISAC 100m and 200m champion Rupert Perry who recently recovered from injury. Perry made his comeback to the track with an impressive win in the 200m at the GDF Inter Unit Championships when time keepers stopped their watches in approximately 20.1 seconds.
GDF’s leading quarter miler Patrick King is also a leading prospect to make the team after winning the 100m and 400m in record time at GDF Inter Unit and placing second to Perry in the 200m.
King was given astounding times of 10.2s in the 100m and 48.8s in the 400m. However, GDF has several other sprinters who are gunning for a position on the team including Akeem Stewart, Jermaine Newton, Dellon DeAbreau, Davin Fraser and Darren Henry.
In the middle and long distance events, GDF can rely on national 1500m and 5000m record holder Cleveland Forde as well as champion female campaigner Asanti Scott. Those two long distance campaigners have been dominant at the Inter Service level. The GDF team is expected to be selected in close to a week.
