By Tamica Garnett

WITH just under one week left before the commencement of the multisport National Schools Championships, representatives of the North Georgetown – District 11 – are looking forward to an improved year at the event, reporting several enhancements in their contingent since last year.
Representative Mariska Williams says the District has seen improvement in the teams for both the cycling and teachers competitions, even though she admits that these remain North Georgetown’s weakest areas.
“This year we believe is a better year for us. We would have improved in cycling because this year we have the full squad, but as usual the problem is always getting a cycle, but nevertheless we are trying hard to see if we can get some cycles to borrow for the day.
Basically it’s down to the teachers’ competition. That team is not as strong as we would have expected it to be, but I think that it’s a better team than last year’s, so we’re hoping that can work,” Mariska said.
Admitting that the District has suffered blows in the other sections of the competition – swimming and track and field – due to a thinning of the herd, Mariska nonetheless remains firm that the District still has very strong teams in these two areas.
District head Mark Wills says with the track and field it will come down to the wire, and it will all have to do with how things play out on the day of reckoning.
“Athletics is something that is determined on the track, because not what you see on paper means that that person will be able to perform of their best on the track on the said day. At the end of the day we just have to come out and perform,” Wills commented.
Both Williams and Wills are confident in their Districts’ ability to retain the title in the swimming competition, which will be held next Monday, November 21, at the National Aquatic Centre in Liliendaal.
“Our strongest competition is always the swimming,” Wills established.
Beginning next week Monday, District 11 will vie against 14 other districts in the four different categories of the Championships, all aiming to claim the prize of being the overall champions at the prominent annual event.
With each passing year the main rivalry at the Championships remains to be between District 11 and track and field powerhouse Upper Demerara/Kwakwani District 10 (Linden), who are currently the competition’s defending champions.
The two adversaries have traded Championships wins over the years and now both boast 14 titles apiece, in the 56-year history of the event.
This year’s battle will be even more suspenseful as stakeholders anticipate which District will go one up, and be the first to boast clinching a total 15 Championships win.
Of all the different divisions, track-and-field is usually the most intense component, made even more exciting this year, as both Linden and North Georgetown teams comprise a number of national athletes.
While District 10 are the defending champions of the athletics competition, and District 11 are the defending champions of the swimming, it is West Demerara, District 3, who own the title in the teachers’ competition. The cycling segment was won by Corentyne, District 6.
District 11 had finished second behind Linden in the athletics competition last year, while Linden ended second in the cycling, swimming and teachers’ division of the Championships, which in the end handed them their 14 Championships titles.