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Guyana has narrow lead in IGG Athletics
Winston Caesar prepares for takeoff in the triple jump event yesterday at the Baduel Stadium.
-Field Events save team on day one
By Edison Jefford in French Guiana
in association with YK Investments and Fon-J Cycle Store
Usually, Track events overshadows field events in local track and field, but yesterday in French Guiana, on day one of the Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) Athletics Competition, it was field events that kept Guyana’s title defence alive under immense pressure.
French Guiana and Suriname especially came at Guyana hard in the track events, surprising the defending athletics champions in the sprint events that were held yesterday. Guyana was always dominant in those, but that changed at the Baduel Stadium.
After day one, unofficial standings showed that Guyana had a narrow lead over Suriname and French Guiana but that was subject to change following a meeting that was held last night to authenticate the results following protests from Guyana and Suriname.
Guyana’s female 100m hope, national junior champion and CARIFTA Games nominee, Tiffany Carto was ousted from the race for a false start and that opened the event. Under the new IAAF rules one false start puts the offender out of the race.
It was all up to Iana Graham to make amends, but Suriname’s Danielle Clark proved too fast for Graham, who finished third in 12.2 seconds. Clarke won in 11.9 seconds while Aurelie Quemon from French Guiana was second in 12.1 seconds.
Suriname also won the male 100m with Regillio Mase returning 10.7 seconds and his team-mate, Astrayo Leeflang 10.9 for second. Guyana claimed bronze with Stephan James putting up 11.1 seconds while team-mate Shawn Semple was third.
Guyana continued its below par performance on the track when Shanna Thornhill added another bronze to the cache in the 400m race. Thornhill ran 59.2 seconds to finish behind Ramona Vloot Van Der from Suriname, who won in 57.0 and French Guiana’s Enora Elfort, who had 58.4 for second place.
Suriname swept the top two places in the men’s 400m with Guyana’s representatives, Franken Mercurius and James, placing fourth and fifth respectively. Tyshon Bentick lifted the spirits of his team when he ushered in the Guyana National Anthem for the first time on the day after he won the 1500m event in 4:13.1 with his counterpart, Kevin Bayley placing third in 4:17. Suriname’s Regillio Touwslager was second in 4:14.5.
Carlissa Atkinson and Andrea Gibson then battled their way to second and third respectively in the women’s 1500m race in times of 5:19.2 and 5:26.2 respectively behind veteran Surinamese competitor, llsida Toemere, who had a time of 5:10.7.
Guyana then turned to the field events athletes to redeem them on the first day of competition and they did not disappoint. Maxsim Duncan, Michael Bowman and Winston Caesar thrilled fans with sensational performances on the field yesterday.
Caesar and French Guiana’s Manuel Bilioniere went head to head in the male triple jump after Caesar took the early lead with a huge 14.35m jump mid-day through the competition. Manuel then landed 14.69 to set the highest mark in the competition.
It took Caesar two attempts and a break to end Guyana’s 4x100m relay before he returned to leap 14.67m to challenge for the top spot in the event. However, the narrow miss for Caesar got him a silver medal with Suriname’s Mitchell Collins (13.33m) third.
Duncan eliminated all his rivals in the high jump with his mark of 1m85 to emphatically win the event ahead of counterpart, Jermaine Durant, who had a best jump of 1m80. Suriname’s Stefano Boschmans was third with 1m75 in the male event.
Michael Bowman then stretched Guyana’s impressive performance in the field with a best throw of 50m31 in the javelin event. Suriname’s Romario Doorson was second with 47m62 while Guyana’s Rudolph Toney was third with 43m31. Guyana will continue their track and field title defense today with competition in the 200m, 800m, discus and shot putt scheduled.
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