Athletics 2017 review Part 1…Promising show by Guyanese on Regional and international Athletics scene

Jan 17, 2018 Sports

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The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) saw the emergence of top and promising talents; the likes of Daniel Williams, Chantoba Bright, Compton Caesar and Deshanna Skeete who all turned in historic performances at various local, regional and international meets. Meanwhile, Guyana’s overall performance in the sport continues to take small strides. Let’s take a look at the stand out international/regional events and performances of 2017.
CARIFTA Games (April)

Guyana and the AAG shot off the 2017 season in fabulous style with an impressive eight-medal haul at the Junior Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Games which was competed from April 13-20 in the Dutch speaking Caribbean island of Curacao. The Guyanese’ performance were rated as one of their best performances at the event to date and the 12-member team returned home to much fanfare.
Six out of the 12 athletes medaled with Compton Caesar’s triumph in the Boys’ under-20 100m being highly rated. It was the first time in the competition’s history (which began in 1942) that a Guyanese had that event with speed farm of Jamaica usually the dominant force in the sprint event. Caesar missed out on a sprint double after finishing third in the U-20 200m.
In the field, Chantoba Bright won the long jump, while finishing 3rd in the triple jump of the girls’ under-18 events, while Natricia Hooper, who was disqualified from the 400m race, had the best leap in the under-20 girls’ long Jump.
Claudrice Mckoy was the third Guyanese to finish with two medals, Gold in the 3000m and bronze in the 1500m, in the girls’ under-18 event.
Anfernee Headecker ran well but finished second in the boys’ under-20 1500m race.
Guyana finished 5th overall in the event that had 16 regional nations competed.
South American Youth Games (June)
The AAG would mark the South America Junior Championships as not only one of the best highlight of 2017 but one of best moments in the history of Track and Field in Guyana. This is so because not only did Guyana host the biennial event for the first time in its 55-year history, at the National Track and Field Centre (NTAFC) at Leonora on June 3rd & 4th, but they also finished second overall, their best finish.
The event was successfully organized with little hiccups with the hosts finishing second behind first placed Brazil. From the event, it proved Guyana’s ability in hosting international sports events aside from Cricket and Football in addition to the ability to be competitive once a good amount of athletes are present.
Head of the AAG, Aubrey Hutson, had indicated that since the games were hosted at home he would’ve got the maximum 50 athletes to make up team Guyana since this was a Golden opportunity for the lower tier athletes to test their level against their regional counterparts. Something which was not possible due to the financial constraints of the Association when sending contingents which were small to regional and international meets.
And, Guyana ended the 2017 Championships with 25 medals; three Gold, 10 Silver and 12 Bronze medals. Before this weekend, Guyana had only tallied eight medals total in the 42 years of the competition; those included three Gold, one silver, and 4 bronze medals. Guyana fully utilized its advantage as hosts to improve its performance with the 50 athletes registered.
The individual gold medals for Guyana came from Compton Caesar (100m) and Chantoba Bright (Long Jump), while the girl’s 4x400m quartet also secured a gold medal.
Dennies Roberts won Guyana’s first-ever South America decathlon medal, copping a silver, while Ignacio Sanzhez won gold for Peru and Jordan Santos De Souza of Brazil took bronze.

As expected, Brazil hauled 32 medals to win the Championships; 18 Gold, 11 Silver and three Bronze medals.
The Brazilians amassed 287 points with Guyana second with 198 points, Colombia (165), Peru (118), Argentina (104), Ecuador (91), Suriname (47), Chile (42), Uruguay (15), Paraguay (11) and Bolivia (four) completed the points table.
World Junior C/ships (July)
In the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) World under-18 championships, Guyana’s Daniel Williams put on an almost unbelievable 400m run in which he finished second, to cop the second World medal for the “land of many waters’ at any stage, during the World Youth Championship held in Nairobi, Kenya.
The biennial event that begun in 1999 lasted from July 16th to 21st in the African nation and Williams who had the ninth fastest time, would not have been in the final if Panama’s Antonio Grant was not disqualified for lane infringement. Williams, therefore, was the eight fastest qualifier for the final which made his silver medal run even more surprising.
Williams ran his personal best time of 46.72s in the Boys’ 400 metres Final for his second place finish.
Williams from the Upper Demerara track club in the mining town of Linden, now joins Kadecia Baird, who won a World Junior silver medal in 2012, as the only two athletes to gain a World medal at any level for Guyana.
Chantoba Bright was the second athlete for Guyana at the Kenya Games last year. Bright who also hails from Linden, finished fifth in a pool of 15 in the girls’ long jump with a leap of 6.14 metres which was nowhere her personal best of 6.30m that she leaped to win Gold in the South America Junior Championships, but nevertheless, a respectable performance.
South America Youth Games (Sept-Oct)
Although athletics was not the only disciplined that represented Guyana at the 2nd edition of the South America Youth Games that were hosted in Santiago, Chile from September 29 to October 8 last year, it was the only event that reaped success with a total of four medals; one Gold and the three Silver.
The medalists were Deshanna Skeete, Kenisha Phillips and Jermaine King.
On her first outing at an international event Linden’s Deshanna Skeete landed Guyana’s lone Gold medal in the 400m girls’ final; the nation’s first gold in the history of the infant event.
The Mackenzie High School (MHS) student clocked 57.28 seconds to win ahead of Brazil’s Jessica Moreira who ran a close 57.54 seconds for second place.
Two of the other three medals that were all silver were won by Kenisha Phillips in the Girls’ 100m and 200m. Meanwhile, Jermaine King won his silver in the boys 100m.

 

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