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Digicel honours winners of President’s/Jefford Classic
– Jamaican sprinter could grace meet next year
By Sean Devers
The respective winners of the third annual President’s/Jefford Track and
Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James (fourth, right), Sponsorship Manager, Gavin Hope (left), Public Relations Manager, Shonette Moore (third, left), AAG President, Colin Boyce (second, left) and Co-Coordinator of the Classic, Edison Jefford (right) join in the celebration with the winning clubs and champion athletes yesterday.
Field Classic that was held in Linden on May 20 received their prizes from Digicel at the Kingston Head Office of the telecommunications giants yesterday afternoon.
Julio Sinclair of the Police Progressive Youth Club copped the male champion athlete of the meet award, while Junior CARIFTA double Gold medalist, Jevina Straker of the Running Brave Athletics Club was adjudged female champion athlete.
For the second year in a row, the Police Progressive Youth Club, coached by Lynden Wilson, emerged Champions in the club competition and collected $500,000 and a beautiful trophy. National Park United collected the $300,000 second place prize and the Guyana Defence Force $100,000 for third place.
Edison Jefford expressed gratitude to the clubs for participating in not the best of conditions due to the adverse weather at the McKenzie Sports Club and was high in praise for what he described as the largest crowd in the three-year history of the competition despite the rain.
“I want to go on record in expressing my gratitude to the athletes who braved adverse conditions to compete in Linden. I also want to thank all those who turned out in their numbers to support the meet. Despite the bad weather, it was our largest crowd to-date. I think that was a strong statement of support for both the meet and Digicel,” Jefford stated.
The former junior runner also thanked the five overseas athletes for participating and Digicel for their continued sponsorship of the event.
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Colin Boyce said that as a part of the organising committee he was a bit peeved that the conditions was not conducive for the best performances from the athletes and congratulated the clubs for a remarkable showing in testing conditions.
Police Progressive Youth Club Coach, Lyndon Wilson collects the President’s/Jefford Track and Field Championship trophy from Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James yesterday.
He explained that while athletes from Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago were on show he was disappointed that Suriname could not be present due to the internal problems in their athletics association that ruled them out of the competition.
Boyce commended Digicel for their support and said that the aim is to bring more overseas athletes to Guyana to provide exposure to the local athletes since the cost of sending athletes to overseas events is very costly.
He also encouraged the athletes present yesterday to continue their hard work and remain committed to improving their standard. Boyce disclosed that the meet intends to grow to the level where individual athletes who place among the top three in races can also be financially rewarded instead of just the clubs since some of the smaller clubs might find it hard to “get into the bulk money” in the team competition.
Boyce also disclosed that next year’s event could be moved from May to the summer to avoid the May/June rain and promised that the competition will be around for a long time given the statement that it is becoming a household name in Linden.
Boyce also promised to explore the option of having a Jamaican sprinter as a guest athlete next year and informed that runners from Grenada, T&T, Suriname, Antigua and Barbados could also be included in next year’s event, which he said should be bigger and better, just like Digicel’s network.
Digicel’s sponsorship Manager Gavin Hope, himself a former athlete, said Digicel was pleased to see the level of performances in the wet conditions and promised continued support for next year’s event.
“The athletes showed heart and came out and gave their best. In most other places in the world the meet would have been called off. I am really proud of the commitment showed by the athletes,” Hope said.
Hope also commended the Organisers for a job well done in giving local athletes a chance to perform.
“History has been created this year with five international athletes involved, but we at Digicel always look to get bigger and better, and we challenge the organisers to double the amount of international athletes next year,” Hope pitched.
Boyce said the challenge was accepted and felt that with the improved condition of the facility in Linden, the fourth edition of the President’s/Jefford Classic will continue to be impressive. Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James and its Public Relations, Manager Shonette Moore were also present at yesterday presentation ceremony.
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