Julian Edmonds, Coach of the Running Brave Athletic Club, says that he would endorse the shifting of the Nationals Schools Championship to the first quarter of the year instead of the traditional year-end fixture.
Edmonds, who heads the premier track and field club in the country, said that the move would augur well for junior athletes who would represent the Golden Arrowhead on the international stage.
“That would be the best thing for us since junior athletes will be better prepared for CARIFTA (Games) and other championships like World Juniors,” said Edmonds.
Traditionally, regional powerhouses in Track and Field, Trinidad and Jamaica which hosts their world famous ‘Champs’ stage their versions of our ‘Nationals’ just before the CARIFTA Games which is held annually during the Easter Weekend.
Edmonds added “I would endorse the change since you have basically the best athletes on show at Nationals. However, a lot of times you see these athletes at Nationals and then after that you don’t see them again until the next Nationals. So at CARIFTA we really don’t have our best possible team from the cream of the crop of our junior athletes.”
He continued “We probably would get better results if we held our Nationals just before CARIFTA since it will foster good in prep for these competitions.”
Edmonds suggested that the Inter House and Inter Schools competitions could be hosted at the end of the year while Inter Zones and ‘Nationals’ “should be held in February-March”.
Quizzed why is Guyana’s timing of hosting the premier school competition different from the rest of the Caribbean, Edmonds responded “That is how it was traditionally so I guess it just kept being that way, but change can be good.
With the worrying COVID-19 situation around the globe, it is highly unlikely this years ‘Nationals’ will be staged in November or December. However, this can provide the perfect opportunity for discussions between the the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) to seriously consider staging the 60th National Schools’ Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships during the first quarter of 2021.
