Pompey confident of exciting results at Pan Am Games
Winston George
Winston George

MANAGER/coach of Guyana’s three-member Pan Am Games athletics squad Aliann Pompey feels her charges “pack quite a punch” to do well at the showpiece event of the games now under way here in Toronto, Canada.While other disciplines got under way last weekend, the women’s marathon which is due to be staged today (Saturday) will signal the start of track and field.
Guyana is being represented by top sprinters Adam Harris, Winston George and debutant Jenea McCammon and they will spring into action on Tuesday at the York University Campus, venue for the athletics showdown.
In an interview with Chronicle Sport, a somewhat confident Pompey declared, “We have a small squad of three but they pack quite a punch. Winston George has broken the national record this year, running 45.31 seconds over the 400 metres while McCammon, who is set to compete in the 400 metres hurdles, ran her fastest time in two years in the said event.”
The former Commonwealth 400 metres gold medallist also alluded to the fact that “Harris ran under 10 seconds in the 100 metres, albeit wind-assisted.”
Pompey, who retired from the track a few months ago, also pointed out that “leading up to the games preparations seem to indicate exciting results. Myself and the rest of the Guyanese contingency will be there to support them any way we can.”
The overseas-based Harris represented Guyana in the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2009 World Championships, 2013 World Championships and 2014 World Indoor Championships.
He competed in the 200 metres event at the 2008 Olympic Games, but without reaching the final round.
His personal best time is 20.60 seconds, achieved in July 2013 in Morelia, Mexico. Harris is also Guyana’s National record-holder in the 100 metres & 60 metres dashes. He has 9.90 seconds (wind-aided)/10.09 seconds (wind-legal) in the 100 metres, and 6.55 seconds in the 60 metres, achieved in February 2014 at the Kelly Family Sports Center in Allendale on the campus of Grand Valley State University.
McCammon, who will be donning Guyana colours for the first time, pointed out that she has been running track and field ever since she was nine years old and according to her “all of the hard work I, along with my coaches, have put in. has finally paid off. I can now say that I am a professional athlete representing Guyana for the first time in July 2015 at Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada. I will then hopefully take my talents to Guyana to compete in the Boyce & Jefford Track & Field Classic in August.
McCammon attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University from 2009 and graduated in 2013.
Selected as the Amateur Athletics Association of Guyana (AAAG) Athlete-of-the-Year last season, George also competed in the 400 metres at the 2012 Olympics Games, staged in the United Kingdom where he was also his country’s flag-bearer.

By Frederick Halley

 

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