The Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Sunday retained the Boyce and Jefford Track and Field Classic title when the curtain came down on the event at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground in Linden.
It was the ninth edition of the Classic, and the GPF sprinted away with the top prize of $700,000 after accumulating 336 points, while arch-rivals Guyana Defence Force (GDF) had to settle for second with 241 points and $400,000.
The Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) Track Club came in third with 200 points for a purse of $250,000.
The University of Guyana (UG), which made its first appearance at the event, came in fourth after recording 124 points and received $150,000.
While the event was marred by bad weather, the marquee race – the men’s 100M – final saw UG’s Emmanuel Archibald continuing his dominance in that event by crossing the line in a time of 10.2 seconds ahead of homeboy, Compton Caesar, who finished second in a time of 10.8 seconds.
Yannick Williams completed the podium finish with a time of 11.1 seconds to finish third.
In the women’s 100M, Deshanna Skeete stopped the clock at 12.0s to take gold ahead of Cassie Small (12.3s) and Aniqua Powley (12.5s).
The other hot event at the classic – the men’s 200M – ended with Akeem Stewart (22.3s) pipping Caesar (22.5s) to take gold while Arinze Chance (22.7s) copped bronze.
Meanwhile, Skeete, who competed under the CWSS banner, completed another strong showing by taking the women’s 200M in a time of 25.6s ahead of Alita Moore (25.9s) and Small (26.5s).
The 16-year-old didn’t stop there and won her third event at the meet by capturing the 400M race by dashing across the line in 59.2 seconds to once again live up to the status quo of being Guyana’s top female athlete.
She defeated Jevina Thompson (59.6s) and Leyanna Jane (one minute, 04.9s).
Other major winners saw Winston Dummett taking the men’s 4OOM after clocking 52.0s ahead of Linton Mentis (52.9s) and Kadeem Peters (53.2s).
In the women’s 1500M event, Joanna Archer (5:19.8s) topped Aliyah Moore (5:25.1s) and Leyanna Charles (5:27.7s) to capture the gold while Marlon Nickelson (2.01.0s) took gold in the men’s 800M event ahead of Tyshon Bentinck (2.01.52s) and Samuel Lynch (2:02.33s).
Archibald also leapt his way to gold in the men’s long jump event with a distance of 6.86M.
