By Elroy Stephney

Minister Within the Ministry of Education with responsibility for Sport , Ms. Nicolette Henry’s disclosure that Region 2 will soon benefit from the realisation of a synthetic track has gain positive reactions from former national athletes in Essequibo.Minister Henry made the announcement during her 2017 budget presentation in Parliament. The modern facility is expected to be built next year, as the Government seeks to enhance the capability of athletes who can compete and win internationally.
In this regard,creating a potentially conducive environment becomes paramount during the country’s drive to achieve an elusive Olympic medal. In Essequibo,no such dream existed before and the region remained uncomfortably stagnated and even alienated.

For almost two decades, the national athletic championship could not have been staged in the region due to the deplorable manner in which the facilities were kept.
Similarly, such untenable scenario existed during the Kashif and Shanghai reign. The country-wide football tournament was played for almost twenty five years, yet not a single match had its feet in Essequibo. Given the Minister’s recent exciting expression which indeed is a bold initiative, Chronicle Sport sought a comment from three former national athletes whose origin is in the Cinderella County.
They all expressed delight and affirmed that their exposure overseas enlightened the fact that those countries had modern facilities to enhance their athletes’ performance. ‘Having a similar track here will advance the region’s potential to excel as well as create more career driven opportunities’, they collectively opined.
Former national long distance queen Reonna Cornette who hails from Richmond and attended the Anna Regina Secondary School, for many years reigned supreme at the National School’s Athletics Championship as well as at other local meets.
She also represented Guyana in several international races abroad and was one of the country’s most outstanding female athletes. Reonna was crowned as both the junior and senior sports woman of the year in 1995 and 1996 respectively during her glittering career.
She still holds the record which she proudly upheld as clocking the fastest time in a marathon for female athletes in the Caribbean.
The well-travelled former athlete expressed great optimism which she said the track can create, stating that athletes needed such training ground from an early age to have any chance of competing successfully at a higher level.
Cornette added that her training was done agonisingly on unleveled muddy dams and pot-holed roads which were never ideal contributors for an aspiring athlete.
Notwithstanding, she persevered to become one of the country’s most accomplished runners. Meanwhile even before Reonna dreamt of running, the popular Holder brothers, Prince and Julian were already champions on the track.
They were both long distance runners and held individual records. Prince Holder,who won gold at the Hampton International games in 1986,expressed his pleasure and praised the Government for its visionary insight.
Holder, a critic of the unhealthy state of sports in the region, acknowledged that having a synthetic track will recreate interest in the sport and he believes that with his experience and expertise he can contribute meaningfully in the field of athletics.

He also added that the track can host other sports disciplines too as in the case of the Leneora multi-purpose track. Meanwhile, he suggested that the Anna Regina Community Centre Ground could be transformed into a modern facility that can include the track,given that there is vast amount of space which is ideally situated to connect with the entire region.
His brother Julian Holder was also excited at the track’s prospect to develop athletes from the region.
The older of the two siblings, Julian would have announced his superiority as a teenager and on several occasions rivalled his brother in many trilling encounters.
He was arguably better in stamina and had the ability to conserve energy for his final sprint to the finishing line. Julian also represented Guyana and participated in several regional and international meets abroad.
All three former national athletes expressed the desire to serve in some capacity once the track becomes a reality, knowing that it will pace the region towards producing national and international athletes; feats that they had proudly accomplished. The region was also known to have produced two highly rated sprinters in Francis Drakes (Dr. Kimani) and Dr. Colin Roach, both of whom attained a cult-like status during their era of invincibility on the track. Given such rich history therefore, the former national athletes are optimistic that the impending birth of a synthetic track will be a tremendous boost for sports in Region 2.