Several of the districts set to take part in next week’s annual National Schools’ Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships, which begin next Monday, will not be fielding full teams to the championships.As all of the differing districts look forward to putting their best foot forward next week, for most teams that means maximising on participation as much as possible, however for some teams, particularly those from the interior regions of Guyana, that will not be the case.

Each of the 15 districts set to participate at the Championships is allotted a maximum of 110 persons, this figure includes both athletes and officials, however, only a few of the districts are ever able to make this number. According to numbers, this year’s smallest team will be District 8 which will comprise of 56 persons.

According to Competition Director for the Championships Ceon Bristol, over the years it has been a challenge for some districts to field the full team and participate in all the varying segments of the championships.

Particularly for Districts 1, 8 and 9, Bristol said these teams usually do not have a cycling team, while they also hardly participate in the field events segment.
The issue has been going on for some time now.
“You find mostly interior districts don’t come with the full team. I’ve been at the head of the championships since about 2006 – 2007, and this has been going on prior to that. That’s the norm. They would just do mostly the track events. They don’t do cycling. District 1 doesn’t have cyclists, District 8 only has one cyclist, and district 9 has none,” Bristol said.

This none-participation stems from a number of factors not the least of which some districts lack the prerequisite equipment. Bristol says that the districts don’t really have any bicycles to use, neither is he aware if the athletes of the district know how to ride.
Transportation for the bicycles would pose another problem for the districts to travel a great distance to make it to the championships, which this year will once again be held in Georgetown.
In the case of the field events, Bristol noted, that efforts were made to supply field events equipment to Rupununi, District 9, however he was later informed that distance constraints left the equipment confined to only one area within the district, restricting the number of students that could practise with the implement.
Because of this, many of the students are unaware of the proper techniques in the varying field events.

According to Bristol the issue is not only relegated to interior region districts, or just in the cycling championships:
Corentyne – District 6, which would normally dominate in the cycling championships, struggles with the swimming championships. Districts 4, and 14 also find it challenging to have athletes in this area.
“Corentyne, District 6, will have a handful of swimmers, Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 1, 11, and 12 will have full teams, Districts 4, 5 and 8 have teams, but not maximum athletes.

Most of the districts, which are closer to the Georgetown area are expected to field maximum teams in all of the different competitions of the championships.

The five-day championships begin from 9:00 hrs on Monday and ends on Friday. Athletes are expected to begin arriving on Sunday, at the Games Village. The Games Village has been designated to Woolford Avenue with the teams being housed at Tutorial High School, North Georgetown Primary and Secondary Schools, Richard Ishmael Secondary and Stella Maris Primary.