Morgan out of National NACAC Cross Country Team

Feb 18, 2011 Sports

ARE YOU READY??? President of the Athletics Association of Guyana, Colin Boyce (right) speaks with the members of the national distance running team yesterday afternoon at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary.

– cites recurring injury, reduced squad leaves today

By Edison Jefford
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Colin Boyce held a meeting yesterday afternoon at the Police Sports Club Ground to improve the confidence of Guyana’s long distance running team ahead of their impending assignment in Trinidad.
Boyce was forced to hold the forum after the relatively strong team initially was hit with the bad news that Alika Morgan had reneged on the North America, Central American and the Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Race owed to a pre-existing injury concern.
“We had a plan and that was to send a strong team. We had all assurance that Morgan was ready for this competition, but unfortunately we have to do our best with who we have,” Boyce told an enthused group of six national athletes yesterday at the Sports Club.
Morgan’s club, Rising Star Track Club had written the AAG to inform them of her unavailability for this particular race. “I will like to inform the association of the unavailability of Morgan (in) attending this event due to the reoccurrence of a past injury on Tuesday during her preparation for this event,” a letter to the AAG from Rising Start stated.
Attached to the letter was a doctor’s note, which Kaieteur Sport has seen.
The note stated that the national athlete has been complaining of abdominal pains on and off for sometime while “checks by GMO (Government Medical Officer) Gynaecologist ultrasound examinations have not shown any pathology,” the core of the attached doctor’s note indicated.
Subsequently, Morgan had confirmed availability to represent the country, which was chronicled in the minutes of the association’s last meeting.
The withdrawal from the competition came after the AAG had already purchased an airline ticket for her to compete.
The association had named Cleveland Forde, Dennis Horatio, Wilbert Mingo, Cleveland Thomas Nathanie Giddings and Region Nine’s, Hezron Pedro following the local race last month. Doretta Wilson along with Morgan comprised the two females on the team.
The team was expected to depart Guyana at 06:30hrs this morning.
The NACAC Cross Country race usually attracts some of the best distance runners from the respective regions and will pose a serious challenge to the Guyanese. The team returns on Sunday.