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Independence National long course Swimming C/Ships…Dominant Aleka Persaud breaks 2 more records yesterday
By Sean Devers
Aleka Persaud broke two more records on the penultimate day of the Independence National long-course swimming championships yesterday at the National Aquatic Centre at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara to add to the three she set on the previous days of the event which is being used to pick a squad for the 2015 Goodwill games.
Action in the 13-14 Boys 100 meters freestyle race.
Nine-year-old Persaud, swimming out of the Orca Speed Swim Club, bettered her previous best in the girls under-8 50 meters Breaststroke and the girls U-8 100 meters Freestyle to post new championship records. The petite lass is .24 of a second short of breaking the Goodwill record in the 50 meters freestyle which stands at 33.52 in her age group and is among the favorites to capture Gold in next this year’s Goodwill Games.
Amy Grant, the daughter of Guyanese musician Rudy Grant, was also in good form, winning 13-14 400 meters Freestyle and the girls 13-14 100 meters Butterfly races, while top teenage swimmer Britany VanLange, a Cadet officer with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) took first place in the girls 18 & over 50 meters Breaststroke in her last race before she leaves next month for a four-year scholarship at the West Point Military Academy where she will study Engineering and also advance her swimming career.
Grant, representing Silver Shark Aquatic Swim Club, won the 400 meters Butterfly in a time of 6:02.94 and the 100 meters Butterfly in 1:22.33 while Persaud, the only swimmer to set new records at these Championships, won her U-8 girls 50 meters Breaststroke in 47.56 and the 100 meters freestyle in 1:20.91.
Twins Danielle and Jadyn George, Antonio Hussein, Paul and Kenita Mahaica, Liam Winter, Leon Seaton, Raddy Potter, Sekhel Tzedeq, Mario King, Satyanand Ramlagan, Hannibal Gaskin, Andrew Fowler and Sam Clarke were also in winner’s row yesterday.
The Championships began 30 minutes late because some of the Time Keepers were delayed by the flooding in city caused by torrential rain and the day’s proceeding began yesterday under angry looking dark clouds and slight showers. But as the day progressed the sun came out in all of its glory much to the relief of a fair size gathering of spectators which comprised mostly parents of the competitors, many of whom worked as ‘Volunteers’ for the GASA organized competition.
Sixty swimmers will be selected from this Championship for the July 5th ‘Swim off’ after which a 40 member squad will be picked for the Goodwill games in Trinidad on August 14-16.
Barbados, St Lucia, Suriname, Bahamas, T&T and Guyana will vie for medals and yesterday’s championships, which involved five top clubs, was sponsored by Banks DIH, Sterling Products Ltd, Raymond Haniff General Store, Star Party Rentals and Martin Brock from Corporate & Executive.
President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Ivan Persaud said he will seek assistance from Government with funding for the trip to the Goodwill Games since a lack of funds for travel leaves a heavy burden on parents to fund the cost of the children’s participation.
“The previous Government never really supported us although we were representing Guyana. So now for the first time in 23 year we could be able to send a full contingent of 40 swimmers. Last year we only could send 30 swimmers to Suriname which was the most we ever sent,” Persaud lamented.
He added that he is confident that Guyana will do better than any other year because we should start getting medals from our under-8 swimmers.
“We will also be fielding relay teams which will benefit us because you get 18 points for a relay win,” Persaud concluded.
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