at Developmental Meet two
RUPERT Perry of the Guyana Defence Force Athletics Club was the man who intimidated the timers at The Athletics Association of Guyana’s (AAG) 2nd Developmental Meet which was held yesterday on the Guyana Defence Force Ground, Camp Ayanganna.
GDF continued the showcase of the wealth of talent that it possesses as yet another sprinter, Rupert Perry, from the burgeoning athletics club held the 100m and 200m to ransom to pull off an impressive sprint double in not only a superficial sense.
Perry’s two victories were also a triumph on the stop watches as he clocked in at 10.5secs in the 100m and 21.9secs in the 200m to win his heats and post the overall fastest times for the open male category yesterday.
Perry, whose presence on the track before his events caused his opponents’ resolve to waiver, also returned to steer the GDF 4x100m relay team to an impressive 43.6secs victory, over one of the club’s main opponents and a former overlord of the track, Progressive Youth Club (PYC) (44.4secs).
Another sprinter who man- handled the competition was Chavez Ageday as he continued his dominance over the junior sprints clocking 10.7secs, a time which challenges the winning time in the open category.
Okeme Stewart of PYC and Steve Nelson of Running Brave Athletics Club (RBAC) both clocked 11.0secs to register the second fastest time for that category. Ageday, like his senior counterpart Perry, completed a sprint double as he also claimed the junior 200m in a time of 22.1secs.
Wayne Harlequin of the Royal Youth Movement continued in good form as he claimed the 400m open race in impressive fashion clocking a time of 50.6secs ahead of club mate Phillip Drayton who clocked in at 51.3secs and another seasoned campaigner Cleveland Thomas who clocked 52.2secs.
Cleveland Forde was also on show yesterday and he practically ran a one man race in the 5000m as none of the other contenders were in his league; Forde sprinted to an amazing 15mins. 15. 8secs victory.
The day however ended with a negative twist for GDF (3mins. 33.0secs) as they were completely blown off of their pedestal by RYM’s 4x400m who clocked an impressive 3mins. 26. 2secs and emphatically made a statement to the GDF athletes on their home field.
The day’s proceedings were conducted under the final by time law; this year’s developmental meets, which are intended to keep the local athletes in constant competition so as to fend off atrophy, will not feature the conventional repertoire of developmental events but instead will hold fast to the traditional events used on the competitive circuit (i.e. 100m, 200, 400m etc.).
This is a measure being employed by the AAG to better prepare for the Inter Guiana Games in regard to affording the eligible athletes as much experience in actual competition as possible.