AAG Carifta Trials shifts to tomorrow

Mar 14, 2009 Sports

– Boyce says it’s more economical

Colin Boyce

By Edison Jefford
The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Junior Carifta Games Trials initially set for today and tomorrow at the Enmore Community Centre Ground will now be held on the latter date alone following an AAG technical meeting.
President of the AAG, Colin Boyce told Kaieteur Sport yesterday that the decision was made to have the competition condensed into one day following the rate of registration and the economic constraints of some participants.
“We will now hold the trials on Sunday [tomorrow] alone since it did not look practical to have the teams from Corentyne and Linden for instance, travel two [consecutive] days to Georgetown to compete,” Boyce said.

In addition to the economic costs attached to travelling, Boyce informed that athletes for the meeting were being registered at a slow rate, which did not impress the AAG that had set a Thursday deadline for entrants. He said that the association was forced to extend the deadline to yesterday afternoon and all the clubs were informed of the new development. Boyce also indicated that the clubs will be notified of the one–day meeting.
“Up to Thursday, we had athletes from seven of the 10 registered clubs. We intend to call the remainder to query about their athletes if we see that they are not registering,” Boyce, intent on ensuring mass participation, said.
The new AAG boss informed that there are another four clubs pending AAG registration and five clubs floating. He said that these clubs are allowed to participate because they are affiliated to the AAG until their full accreditation.

The majority participation at the AAG trials makes for interesting competition where a new breed of junior athletes emerges. These athletes will be given equal opportunities to compete for places on Guyana’s national team.
Boyce had indicated in a previous interview with this newspaper that his administration will be keen to reward performance. He said that steps will be taken to ensure that the lack of sponsorship does not hinder top athletes.
“This is just one of the meets that will be used as a yardstick for selection. We also have the Inter–Guiana Games and Linwest Games where we will basically be monitoring the performances of athletes,” he said yesterday.