“NEXT year we need more. We at Digicel, the ‘Bigger, Better Network,’ don’t settle for less. Both Mr Boyce and Mr Jefford talked about making next year’s tournament a bigger, better one in keeping with our motto. Indeed we want to make it that and I challenge you the organisers and athletes to make it a reality.”
Those were the words of Digicel (Guyana) Incorporated Events and Sponsorship Manager Gavin Hope, who was at the time delivering brief remarks at the presentation ceremony which was held to bring the curtain down on the third annual President’s/Jefford Classic.
Present at the brief ceremony were athletes representing the top three clubs in Police Sports Club (PSC), National Park United (NPU) and Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Digicel’s Shonnet Moore and Jacqueline James, and president of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Colin Boyce and his co-coordinator of the Classic, Edison Jefford.
Hope, a former athlete and national hockey player, heaped hefty congratulations on the organisers and athletes who braved the rainy conditions overhead and underfoot, to make the event the success story it was eventually.
“We at Digicel are very pleased to see the athletes perform under those conditions – which were not conducive for athletics – and doing so impressively. If that meet was being held anywhere else in the world, it would have been postponed to a later date so I say ‘hats off to you’ for your sterling contribution.
“On that same note, I must say congrats to Jefford and the AAG, for the work they put in to make the event a possibility and reality, but we need to see more in next year’s Classic, of which Digicel will be there by your side, giving our support,” said Hope.
He called for doubling the number of foreign athletes for next year’s event, adding “This year we had five athletes from overseas competing and we need to see 10 or more next year, as we look to further etch our name in the annals of athletics, at the same time making the Classic a signature event.”
In his brief remarks, Boyce showered praise on the athletes adding that the competition in the team events was keen, before PSC, the defending champions, pulled out all the stops, coming down to the bottom, to successfully retain their title, “I am peeved that the weather condition was not conducive for the athletes to give of their extreme. But because of the fact that we had included athletes from Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, I want to indicate to you my extreme happiness that the clubs did agree to participate, despite the weather conditions.
The AAG boss said the conditions reminded him of meets in the past, wherein athletes had to paddle through the mud to compete and he was happy to see the athletes were not deterred at last Sunday’s Classic, despite the heavy overcast conditions and puddles of water in some places on the track.
He cited the performances of the clubs as a remarkable one, while informing his audience that athletes from neighbouring Suriname could not make it to this year’s event – but will be there next year – due to a split in their Association which is being looked at by the IAAF.
He thanked the sponsors for their sterling contribution once again, and like Hope, said Digicel will be on board once again for next year’s event.
“While we are aspiring to bring more overseas competition to this event, with our eyes being fixed on athletes from Suriname, Grenada, Antigua and a guest athlete from Jamaica, it is a very costly exercise for us to send our athletes abroad to get more competition for them.
However, we will be making the meet a bigger and better one next year, as we will also be looking at bringing in more competition for the females, especially the sprinters as, with the inclusion of more overseas participation, the meet will get better and I urge all the teams and athletes to continue to train hard,” stated Boyce.
Boyce said he will be looking down the line to further elevate the Classic by looking to reward athletes for individual races and, following a careful review by the organisers, they will be looking at the best month to host the Classic, especially knowing that the Mackenzie Sports Club will be getting a makeover.
Jefford also expressed his gratitude to the clubs, athletes and supporters who braved the conditions to make the meet a success, while he thanked the sponsors especially Digicel for its sterling contribution towards the success of the Classic.
PSC, who amassed 313.5 points to arrest the championship club title for the second successive year, took home a trophy and $500 000, while NPU (made up of several small clubs) and GDF finished third with 284 and 224 points respectively.
Running Braves’ Jevina Straker aggregated 28 points to claim the female champion athlete award, while PSC’s Julio Sinclair scored 25 points to take the male version, for which they both received a trophy an undisclosed sum of cash and a Usain Bolt biography entitled ‘My Story’.