50th Independence Track Meet today

ALL systems are a go for the North Georgetown (District 11) 50th Independence Track Meet which goes down today at the Police Sports Club Ground and will see seven teams going up against each other to be champions of the inaugural event.“All systems in place for tomorrow [today], we had a little bit of shortcoming in terms of light, but we sorted that out and everything is okay,” organiser Mariska Williams told Chronicle Sport yesterday.
“We actually feel great, because we know that this will be a championship that they will talk about; we anticipate that it will be welcomed and look forward to hosting it in years to come, it’s just that we need more sponsors.”
The event gets under way this afternoon from 16:00hrs and will see athletes competing from the under 14 up to the under 20 age category in track events from the 100m to the 1500m.
Of the seven participating teams, five are already based in Georgetown, while the East Coast team will travel from that area and the Bartica district team is expected to arrive this morning at 08:00hrs
The other participating teams are the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, Super Upcoming Runners, Mercury Fast Laners, and Ruralites. Just about 100 athletes are set to participate in the event.
Coaches from the club had favourable things to say about the meet, which they think is coming at a most opportune time for the athletes.
“The event is coming [at] the right time to give the athletes at the perfect time for them to showcase how good they are. And it is also showing the GTU [Guyana Teachers Union] that this is the right time to run the School Nationals [Championships]” coach for the GPF, Lyndon Wilson shared.
The GPF has approximately 22 athletes participating at today’s event, including 2016 CARIFTA Games athlete Jevina Sampson, who will be participating in the 200m, 400m and 800m of the girls’ under-20 category.
Other notable athletes for the team include Joanna Archer, Kezia Murray in the girls’ under-18 400m and 800m, and Deon Archer in the boys’ 100m and 200m.
For the GDF prominent athletes include Gavin Fraser in the boys’ open 200m and 400m; Akeem Stewart in the boys’ open 100m and Aniquah Powley in the 100m and 200m, while Rupert Perry will also be out in the 100m and 200m invitational.