ATHLETES from all across South America and the Caribbean, including Peruvian Yerson Orellana and Trinidadian Tonya Nero, are expected to travel to Guyana to participate in the annual South American 10K Road Race, which was officially launched yesterday at a ceremony held at Olympic House, High Street.President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, said that registration is still ongoing as the usual high turnout is expected at this year’s Guyana leg of the event, which will be held on November 20, and includes the 10km, 3000m and 1500m races.
Speaking at the press conference Hutson explained that the event’s hosting which was originally set for November 6 was moved to accommodate one of the sponsors, Banks DIH’s event which was planned for that date.
Additionally, the change of date was a welcome decision to many of the participating countries, which signalled the need of more time to get their athletes together. Athletes from several countries are expected, including those from Columbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Peru, Grenada, and St Vincent.
Orellana and Nero are the defending champions of the men’s and women’s open category, respectively. Orellana last year overthrew Guyana’s top distance man Cleveland Forde, who in a surprising turn of events had ended in fourth place.
Hutson noted that bringing overseas athletes to Guyana to participate is a key part of developing Guyana’s long distance athletes, since the competition pits Guyanese against overseas athletes allowing them to gauge how much farther they need to go to develop their skills.
“To improve on what we do in track and field our focus is on bringing in athletes that are of a higher calibre. It’s not fair to our sports to have Cleveland Forde running and winning with just 33 (minutes). The Guyanese public deserves better because when he crosses the border and goes on the international scene the times (in 10km events) are sub-30 (minutes).” Hutson mentioned.
The route for the race remains the same as previous years, as will the prizes. Genuine gold medals and US$1000 will be up for grabs in the open category, while it is hopeful that the prizes of the masters category could possibly see an increase.
Also present at the head table of yesterday’s ceremony were Assistant Competitions Director of Road Race, Yvonne October, AAG Council Member Silus Brummel and CEO of Fitness Express Jamie McDonald, whose company is one of the event’s sponsors. McDonald spoke about his company’s joy to be supporting the event, sharing that he himself has participated at the event on several occasions.
“We are happy to be lending our support to the South American 10K. Since the inception of Fitness Express in 2010 we’ve always looked to lend support to athletics and sports in general, and over the last three years, personally, I’ve run in the South American 10K, and I’ve always been impressed with the organisation – how it’s structured and how well the race usually goes; so this year I thought Fitness Express should offer some tangible support,” McDonald said.
The South American 10K Road Race is a three-part event with Suriname, Panama and Guyana each hosting one of the races.
The Suriname edition was completed on October 30 with Forde and fellow Guyanese Euleen Josiah-Tanner, winning the male and female titles, respectively.
The Panama component is set to be held on November 13, but participation from Guyana is doubtful. The AAG made it clear that Guyana will not be sponsoring any athletes attending the event. However, athletes wishing to attend at their own cost will be given the necessary due diligence from the Association.
Hutson cited Panama’s continual refusal to send athletes to participate in the Guyana leg as the reason why we will not send athletes to their event.