PRESIDENT of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, has confirmed that Guyana will be hosting this year’s South American Junior Championships, after the event was pushed back from May and will now be held in early June.
Hutson yesterday confirmed that Guyana was successful in the proposal submitted at the South American Athletics Confederation (CONSUDATLE) congress which ended yesterday in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

It was earlier this month that Chronicle Sport reported that Guyana was approached to host the event after original host of the event, Bolivia, had pulled out of the hosting due to reasons beyond their control.
With the event confirmed the next step is for the AAG to hunt down funding to cover the expected US$58 000 (Approx. G$11,600,000) price tag that the event is expected to carry.
Over half of the cost will be covered by the International Association of Athletics Federation, which will be pumping US$30 000 into the event.

The AAG has already reached out to the government, through the National Sports Commission, as well as the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA).
Following a meeting with NSC earlier this month, Director of Sport Christopher Jones did advise that the Commission would be in a better position to help if the event was pushed back.

“Of course the government will have to come on board. We started discussions with them and we did indicate to them that ideally we would appreciate it if we had more time.
The time, it’s cutting it very close. If the time is pushed back it will give the AAG time to get corporate Guyana on board, (but) the NSC will lend support in whatever way we can to ensure the successful hosting,” Jones told Chronicle Sport.

Jones also hoped that the AAG could perhaps even seek a little more funding from the IAAF given that Guyana has so little time to garner sponsorship for the event.
With athletes from over 10 countries expected to take part in the Championships, this will be the first time that an international event of such magnitude would be held in Guyana – something Guyana has been talking about ever since the completion of the National Track and Field Centre, Guyana’s first and only synthetic track facility.

The South American Junior Championships is a biennial event at which junior athletes (Under-20) from all across South America participate in athletic events. The last Championships, held in Ecuador involved 245 athletes from 11 nations.