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The President’s/Jefford Classic is here to stay
Sport enthusiasts and fans pay rapt attention to the on-field action on Sunday at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground, hosts of the inaugural President's/Jefford Track and Field Classic.
– Inaugural event becomes success story
By Edison Jefford
The recently held President’s/Jefford Track and Field Classic has proven its intended point; it has made it pellucid that athletics, as a global mega sport, can, and will take its right place among the other mainstream sport disciplines represented in Guyana.
The primary idea that produced the Classic, apart from its historic significance, was the truth that track and field in Guyana had failed in the past to generate the kind of public interest and income that it was supposed to have been consistently producing.
An analysis of the body of sports in Guyana would prove that unlike football with the Kashif and Shanghai tournament among a few others; cricket with its calendar competitions; basketball with the national super-ward, track and field had no benchmark event.
The foremost occasion for athletics here each year was the South American 10km Road Race; it is usually attracts a large following. There was no track and field contest that would be marketed in such a way that popularisation would be among the results.
Popularisation leads to public interests and support that in turn fuel the necessary advertising and marketing machineries. The underestimation of the influence of marketing is what was liable for the undermining of the growth of track and field in the past.
So, with the understanding that sport is now entrenched in commercialism and the fact that there must be a professional approach to every aspect of sport management, the Classic sought to be a beacon of change for those aspects that had held back athletics.
It is against that backdrop and the fact that even Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony recognised recently that Guyana does not have a benchmark track and field contest, that the inaugural President’s/Jefford Track and Field Classic was initiated.
Anthony had told a group of athletes when they returned to Guyana from the Hampton Games in Trinidad and Tobago that someone has to come up with an idea that would prevent those athletes from travelling overseas to have meaningful competition.
Of course, the minister, then, was not aware of the fact that the President/Jefford Track and Field Classic had already begun to take corporate shape. But Anthony was right, athletes should not be made to feel that overseas is the only way they can have competition.
Such a platform can be provided right here in Guyana as other disciplines have proven. With the continued corporate support, especially that of Digicel, the Classic will definitely make a lasting impression on the local, regional and international landscape.
The inaugural attempt was not without its fair share of glitches, however. Barring the conflicting weather pattern in Linden, the Mackenzie Sports Club did not fully get the preparation that those responsible for the venue had envisioned at the beginning.
In addition, the management of the track that was suitably equipped was not 100 percent efficient and those are some of the areas that the Coordinators will work to address next year. The official timing of the meet will remain the same on the athletics calendar.
Suffice it to say that the presence of Digicel’s Business Development Manager, Gavin Hope and Sales Manager, Dwayne Scott made some features of the event easier to manage since they were actively involved in handling some of the issues that developed.
It was generally good for the sport because it gave the hundreds of Lindeners that witnessed the event the right impression. It was no facade- it was rather a direct cooperation between those two corporate representatives and the Co-ordinators of the meet.
Generally, it was what the sport was lacking and what the sport needed as it continues to develop in Guyana. It is no secret: the President’s/Jefford Track and Field Classic is here to stay as plans to make the event bigger and better are already underway.
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