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AAG will not sanction Gold Striders Games
– athletes U-16 cannot compete for money
By Edison Jefford
The management team of the Gold Striders Track and Field Games, which is scheduled for this weekend at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary, will have to settle for the blessings of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) as opposed to its sanction.
President of the AAG, Colin Boyce told Kaieteur Sport yesterday that there were several areas of concern, but the one that forced them to decide against sanctioning the meet was the fact that athletes under 16 years old cannot compete for money.
“What I want to say is that we appreciate the effort in assisting to develop and promote track and field in Guyana, which is good. We had some meetings with Mr. Gittens and what I’ll tell you is that the meet will not be a sanctioned meet,” Boyce indicated.
Gold Striders’ Director, Derill Gittens, had told this newspaper last week that $1M in cash prizes and other rewards would be up for grabs at the meet. He said that clubs and athletes will compete in four categories: Under-17, Under-20, Under-23 and Open.
Apparently, it is the U-17 category that will attract a wide cross-section of participation of some athletes who are under 16 years old that the AAG has a problem with, and was unable to reach an amicable solution with Gittens, who wanted the group to remain.
“Gittens asked us for our blessings after we could not agree on the terms and conditions for all the athletes under 16 years old. The IAAF, to which we are affiliated, rule on that is very clear. What he wanted was not in tandem with us,” Boyce continued yesterday.
The AAG President was of the view that with the inclusion of schools in the competition, there is no guarantee that the cut off age for athletes would have been 16 years and Gittens did not give a firm indicator that the international rule would be upheld.
He said that, coupled with a few other glaring issues, left the association no choice but to distance itself formally from the Gold Striders meet. The $30,000 sanctioning fee, therefore, will not at all be applicable to Gittens, who just requested the association’s support.
“Sponsorship of the technical delegates and 40 officials for the two days, meals and refreshments and all those things had to be guaranteed before we offer sanction and he could not guarantee the things we requested as part of our sanctioning,” Boyce said.
The AAG head added that there is also some amount of concern among the clubs, which is one of the primary reasons why only Royal Youth Movement have registered, leaving eight others in doubt over their participation at what is to be a mega track meet.
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