The local athletic stars showed up and showed out this past weekend during the back-to-back Independence celebration meets staged at the National Track and Field Centre.
Usual suspects, sprinters, Emanuel Archibald and Keliza Smith along with javelin rulers, Anisha Gibbons and Leslain Baird were among those who shone the brightest during the Overseas Based Sports Association Track and Field Classic and the Kenrick Smith Relays.
Yesterday during the Classic, Archibald and Smith continued to cement their status as the fastest male and female in the 592 by emphatically winning the blue riband 100m events.
Archibald, clocked 10.20s leading from the smoke of the pistol all the way to the tape. The muscular 27-year-old Olympian showed his class in leading Noelex Holder (10.45s) and Osa Blair (10.79s) onto the podium.
The native of Linden was just off his personal best (10.18s) which was recorded last month in Jamaica.
With Archibald resting, Holder won the 200m men’s event in 21.51s. He led Loneil Marks (21.69s) and Revon Williams (21.83s) into the medal stand.
Smith was in her usual dominant form, recording a sprint double in the 100m and 200m women’s events.
The Running Brave Athletic Club (RBAC) standout relegated her club mate, Karese Lloyd and Tonya Rawlins of the GDF club in both races to continue her stranglehold on the local track scene.
Smith, 19, finished the 100m in 11.54s and completed the double with a scintillating run of 24.04s in the half lap event.
Lloyd, 18, ran 12.02s and 25.56s while Rawlins clocked 12.34s and 25.78s in that order for the 100m and 200m.
Another athlete who recorded a double gold medal performances was 19-year-old Matthew Gordon of the Hometown Flames. Gordon won both the 800m and 1500m races in 1m:56.62s and 4m:05.84s.
Elsewhere in the field, Baird of GDF, threw the javelin a season’s best 71.65m to expectedly win the event ahead of Kleon Spellen (62.16m) of the Police Progressive Youth Club (PPYC) and club mate, Tremaine Beckles (58.40m).
Gibbons, a gold medalist at the last two CARIFTA Games, once again showed why she is the best teen javelin thrower in the Region. The 18 year-old prized product of Ruralites, threw 40.68m, way ahead of Stacy Wilson (28.65m) and Noriann King (23.08m) to add another gold medal to her burgeoning collection.
Meanwhile, a day earlier, the athletes of RBAC won nine of the 16 relay events to claim the coveted David Wren trophy.
Both meets were collaborative efforts involving the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG).
