…Bright clears impressive 12.52m in triple jump

NATIONAL men’s javelin record-holder Leslain Baird is one other Guyanese athlete whose 2017 season is really picking up. The 29-year-old Guyana Defence Force athlete upped the men’s javelin record to almost 70m last weekend at the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Developmental Meet at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora.

The productive weekend also saw distance runners Matthew McKenzie and Samuel Lynch add themselves to the list of CARIFTA Games qualifying athletes. Linden’s Chantoba Bright, Daniel Williams and GDF’s Kenisha Phillips qualified for more events.
Last Sunday, Baird took first place in the men’s javelin throw after he cleared 69.97m, an entire metre ahead of the 68.96m record that he himself set two years ago when he participated in Trinidad. He was over 10m ahead of the second-place finisher Troy Lewis who had just 59.70m for second place. Baird’s accomplishment also gave him a national record on home soil, something he describes as a “dream come true”.
“It was very exciting; I enjoyed it more than the records I’ve broken before. That is something I had always wanted to do, break a national record in front of home crowd.” Baird said.
Now Baird has his sights on taking the record even further. He’s hoping to clear 77m by year end, which will definitely be an uphill task for him in an event where the world record is a staggering 98.48m. Currently, the 2017 season is being led by Germany’s Julian Weber with a massive 85.85m toss.
Baird, a member of the Army, is currently training at home. This comes after he was offered a scholarship at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education in Jamaica, but could not attend.
According to an official from the AAG, Baird was denied leave from the Guyana Defence Force to allow him to take up the offer. The venture was being backed by an annual US$5 000 commitment from the Guyana Olympic Association, but the opportunity was squandered.
Meanwhile, the Guyana’s list of athletes to qualify for next month’s CARIFTA Games in Curacao continues to grow, with at least 10 athletes having already clinched qualifying marks, including nine locals and one overseas-based athlete. The AAG is expected to make a final decision on the list this weekend.
Lynch now joins Anfernee Headecker in qualifying in the Boys’ Under-20 800m, after he clocked 1:54.57s last Sunday. Lynch’s time only just made it past the 1:55.00s CARIFTA qualifying time in the event.
The performance was also just enough to see him end third, as Headecker continued in fine form and took the second place win in 1:54.40s. The race was won by senior Quacy Morian in a time of 1:54.19s.
A 16.28.00s clocked by McKenzie in the men’s 5000m was only good enough for second place in the race, but it still managed to surpass the 16.30.00m CARIFTA QT and give him a spot on the team.
In the women’s triple jump, Bright flew an impressive 12.52m across the sand to take the win. If sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), that jump would place Bright fifth among the female youth 2017 season’s best jumps. It completely clears the 11.8 CARIFTA female Under-18 qualifying standard.
In the long jump, for which she has already qualified, she won with a leap of 5.85m. Another youth female, Phillips, cleared the 24.5 seconds CARIFTA QT in the 200m, after she won the event in 24.47 seconds, ahead of Police’s Alita Moore who clocked 24.86 seconds. Phillips won the 100m in 11.96 seconds.
Williams cleared 1.92m in the high jump, while Christianburg’s Compton Caesar improved on his 200m performance clocking 21.41 seconds to overcome Williams’ 21.81 seconds.
In the men’s 100m, Caesar overwhelmed GDF’s Rupert Perry, flying past the finish line in 10.54 seconds, while Perry followed in 10.60 seconds. Tyrell Peters placed third in a time of 10.74 seconds.
CARIFTA qualifying standards continue to elude Running Brave’s Claudrice McKoy, but just marginally.
Last Sunday she won the women’s 800m in 2:18.34s, four seconds outside of what the QT stands at. Prior to that she had almost touched the qualifying time in the Girls’ Under-20 1500m but she finished in 4:48.79s when the qualifying time (QT) was a flat 4:48.00s.