Winston George (senior male), Compton Caesar (junior male) and Daniel Williams (youth male) are almost certain to take home athlete-of-the year awards in their respective categories.
However, it may be a tight race among the female nominees when the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) hosts its annual award ceremony tomorrow evening at the Umana Yana.
In 2017, George lowered his previous 400m national record to cement his place as Guyana’s fastest quarter-miler of all time after stopping the clock in 45.16 in July at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora.
It is safe to say that the two-time Olympian will more than likely add another senior male athlete-of-the-year award to his trophy cabinet. Other nominees, triple jumper, Troy Doris and national javelin record holder, Leslain Baird and distance dynamo, Cleveland Forde simply did not have a better year performance wise than the 31 year-old who also took gold at the South American Senior Champ-ionships and finished the year ranked #11 in the 200m event.
Caesar is a lock for the under-20 male award after sprinting to gold in the marquee 100m final in the CARIFTA Games in Curacao. He is the only Guyanese to achieve that feat at the premier age group track and field event in the Region which is in its 47th year.
At CARIFTA, Caesar also earned a bronze in the 200m final. Two months later in June at the South American Junior Champ-ionships here, Caesar won another gold in the 100m and a silver in the half lap event. Anfernee Headecker and Samuel Lynch are the other nominees in this category.
Williams’ body of work is simply unmatched not just for 2017 but for any local youth male athlete in Guyana’s history. The peerless native of Linden snared a silver in the World U-18 Championships in the 400m then went on to obliterate the 100, 200 and 400m age group records at the National Schools Championships.
The senior female athlete-of-the-year nominees are Tenisha Cort, Natreena Hooper and Alita Moore. Toyan Raymond, Natricia Hooper and Onasha Rogers are the junior nominees while the youth nominees are Chantoba Bright, Kenisha Phillips, Joanna Archer and Claudrice McKoy. It’s anyone’s guess who the winners’ for those categories will be although the Hooper sisters and Bright may be the front runners for their respective categories.
Meanwhile, Johnny Gravesande and Moses Pantlitz are the nominees for the Coach-of-the-year award.
The event is set for a 19:00hrs start.
