Thirteen-year-old Christ Church Secondary School student Avon Samuel is definitely an athlete for the national fraternity and possibly any recruit to monitor as she continues to demonstrate her virtuoso skill on the track.
Shocking performance from Samuels at North Georgetown District 11’s Zone One Inter School Championships left students and teachers in awe. Samuels won the 100m, 200m and 400m races in commanding fashion as though she was in a race of her own competing against the clock. North Zone executive members quickly inquired the age and details of the phenomenally talented teen as they could immediately see the possibility of her going to nationals and possibly dominating. The possibility even exists that Samuels could break Jevina’s Sampson’s Under 14 records that were established just last year after she came very close to breaking the one minute barrier in the 400m without competition. But where did this prodigious talent come from to all of a sudden? How did she get that fast, that fast?
Samuels is a member of the Running Brave Track and Field Club in the National Park and is coached by Sham Johnny and Julian Edmonds. Even though the National Park’s track is in a deplorable condition, that club produced athletes such as South American Junior and Under 23 bronze medallist Stephon James, former national schools’ record holder Ashley Tasher who now competes for Medgar Evers High School in the US and former national Under 23 champion Neisa Allen. Running Brave is also the last club that former National sprint champion Rawle Greene trained at before he retired and the club that is still the home for local sprint queen Alisha Fortune.
Samuels said that she loves competing and has been doing so for the last seven years of her life. The second form Christ Church student also has sprinting in her blood as her mother Karen Samuels also competed at the schools nationals and continues to motivate and support her daughter in her athletic endeavours. But what ultimately brought her to the Running Brave Track and Field Club about a year ago was her respect and adoration for 14 year old Inter Guiana Games champion Jevina Sampson who had defeated her on several occasions.
“I admire Jevina, she is very talented,” Samuels said. In fact, Jevina Sampson had been offered a full athletic Scholarship at age 12 after she attended the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore as a part of one of their programmes to nurture athletes.
“I would be so glad if I could beat her, but I know I have to put in a lot of work and train hard,” Samuels said referring to her friend, schoolmate and training partner Sampson. Last year was a tough year for Samuels since Sampson had also been competing in the Under 14 category. With Sampson already at the top of her game in 2011, Samuels did not even get the opportunity to make it pass the Inter House level. Jevina Sampson is now competing in the Under 16 category, so now Samuels is all alone in the Under 14 category with a chance to go after Sampson’s records.
This time around however, Samuels said that she will be trying her best not just to get to Nationals, but to be impressive enough to represent Guyana at overseas competitions.
“I hope to go out of the country and represent Guyana in places like Jamaica and Singapore…,” Samuels said.
Samuels said that over the summer she was motivated by the performance of Olympics and former World Junior champion Alyson Felix and hopes to one day achieve similar success for Guyana at the Olympics. Samuels will be in competition once again this Friday for North Georgetown District 11’s Inter Zone Championships, which is the final qualifying stage before nationals.
