The annual track and field extravaganza known as the Boyce and Jefford Classic will continue to be held in Linden and will not be moved to the new synthetic track at Leonora.
This was disclosed on Friday by organisers Colin Boyce and Edison Jefford.
They were forced to address the issue following concerns raised by the community that the meet might be moved to the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora.
“In 2010, at our inaugural opening ceremony, we made a commitment to Mr. (Mortimer) Mingo (then Regional Chairman) and the people of Linden that we will not move this meet from Linden and it is only right that we renew that commitment,” Boyce said.
“This meet was born in Linden and it will remain in Linden,” he reiterated, adding that they will not follow the pattern of their predecessors and remove from the community a product that they would have built through their unswerving support over the years.
Boyce, a former top sprinter said that grass surfaces and grounds must not be condemned in Guyana because there is a Synthetic facility pointing out that meets in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are still held on grass surfaces even though those countries possess synthetic tracks.
Jefford, whose father was also one of the country’s top sprinters agreed with Boyce that removing the competition would be “morally and ethically wrong” to the Lindeners who have supported the development of the meet from the start.
“We hope to continue to shed the light on this facility, the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground, so that government or any investor will see the need for a modern sports facility for this community. If we move, we will also move the attention for here,” Jefford said.
Jefford added that the long term goal is to move in the direction of lobbying for a synthetic track and field facility in Linden since many prominent youth and junior athletes are from the Mining Town.
“Linden has not lost the Track and Field Competition at the National Schools’ Championships in over 13 years. That alone should have been a motivating factor for such a facility in Linden from the previous government, but it never happened,” Jefford declared.
“We hope that this government recognises the vast athletics talent in this community, and make the necessary investment in sport. If we move our meet, we believe we will also move the efforts we are making to lobby Government in this direction,” he added.
This year’s event, the sixth since the competition began, will be held August 15-16 at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground with athletes expected from Trinidad, the US, Suriname, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The organisers added that some Jamaican athletes have expressed interest in participating in the meet for the first time.
