WITH Kenisha Phillips and Compton Caesar taking the sprint double, and Joanna Archer ruling in the middle distance,were just some of the outstanding performances that Guyana put together to take a huge win over Suriname in the athletics competition of the Inter Guiana “Goodwill” Games, which almost came a premature end last evening after an embarrassing spate of blackouts at the National Track and Field Centre in Leonora.
With all the events completed,Guyana ended with 373 points, while Suriname only managed to put together 253 points, leaving Guyana to end as the undisputable winners of the competition; defending their title and continuing their dominance of the event.
But it was no wonder that Guyana emerged the winner, since the Guyanese athletes rarely gave any leeway to their Dutch counterparts, dominating event after event in the two-day competition which began yesterday.
Phillips, Caesar and Archer, all in their inaugural appearance at the games, copped two gold medals apiece in the individual event and also went on to assist in the relay wins.
Phillips clocked 11.98 seconds to take her first medal in the 100m on day-one,then she returned yesterday to dominate the 200m. She did so in a time of 24.93 seconds.
Also on day-one she was part of the 4x100m relay team that clocked 49.63 seconds for the win. Ceasar took the 100m in 10.57 seconds, and the 200m in 21.70 seconds. Archer won the 800m in 2:23.74s, and the 1500m in 5:23.14s.
Some veterans to the competition, like Avon Samuels, were also determined not to finish this competition empty-handed. For her efforts she ruled the women’s 400m event with a time of 58.09 seconds.
Chantoba Bright,after a year of clearing just over 6m,dipped under the mark but still took the win in the girls’ long jump with a distance of 5.77m.
Other Guyanese medal winners included Tabitha Bowman in the girls’ 3000m (11:49.00s), Odwin Tudor who won the boys’ 1500m (4:11.92s) and 5000m (16:01.05s), Anfernee Headecker in the boys’ 800m (1:58.44s).