… North Georgetown finish second
By Faizool Deo
THE reign of District 10 continues. For the fifth consecutive year, the Upper Demerara/Kwakwani side have been able to win the overall title, which makes them the third team in the history of the National Schools’ Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships to do so.
Georgetown won it from 1975 to 1979, while from 1980 to 1984 when the sides were further divided, North Georgetown ruled.
When the curtain came down on the 59th edition of the Games at the National Track and Field Centre in Leonora last evening, the defending champions had won their 18th overall title – a feat unmatched by any other district.
District 10, who had finished second on Monday in the swimming and cycling competitions, were able to dominate the track and field events, to win the students’ battle by a whopping 296 points. Although they finished fourth in the teachers’ competition, they were still able to accumulate 68 overall points.
District 11, North Georgetown, again had to settle for second. The side who ruled in the water, at the Swimming Championships, ended fifth in the cycling, students’ track and field and the teachers’ T&F competitions for a grand total of 59 points.
District Three, West Demerara, who finished fourth last year, were able to jump into the third position this year with a win in the teachers’ T&F competition. West Demerara also ended seventh in the cycling, ninth in the swimming and sixth in the student’s T&F battle for 52 overall points.
District 13, South Georgetown, who were tied for second last year, settled for fourth with 51 overall points. They finished second in the teachers’ battle, fourth in swimming, sixth in cycling and 10th in the students’ track and field battle.
Fifth place went to District 12, East Georgetown, who placed third in the swimming, fourth in students’ track and field, ninth in cycling and 11th in the teachers’ battle for a 45-point total.
East Coast Demerara and Corentyne were tied for sixth (44 points each), the former proving outstanding in the students’ T&F battle.
In that competition, they accumulated 490 points to finish in second place. East Coast also placed sixth in the teachers’ battle, but ninth in swimming and 12th in cycling.
Corentyne, on the other hand, dominated the cycling, but were unable to field a team for the swimming. They, however, made up valuable points by gaining third position in the students’ track and field clash and ninth in the teachers’ competition.
Eighth position was won by New Amsterdam (District 15) with 41 overall points; ninth by Bartica (District Seven) with 38 points, 10th by West Coast Berbice (District 5) on 36 points, 11th by Districts 1 and 2 (North West and Essequibo Coast-Pomeroon), who finished jointly on 32 points. East Bank Demerara, District 14, finished 13th with 31 points, while Potaro-Siparuni (District 8) ended on 14 with 19 points and Rupununi in 15th on 15 points.
Overall, the track and field meet proved to be extremely competitive with a whopping 34 students’ records and 10 teachers’ records broken.
One of the highlights on the final day involved Rupununi, who managed to register their second record in the high jump after failing to do so prior to this meet.
Derek Mentis broke the 15-and-under high jump record with a leap of 1.84m. The youngster joined Delmar Benjamin, who broke the Boys’ 10-and-under high jump record on Tuesday.
In the penultimate event of the day, the Boys’ triple jump, two athletes were able to better the 17-and-under triple jump record. Cleon Wray (South Georgetown) jumped 13.51m, which had passed Tremaine Browne’s record of 13.45m, but District 6 Shemroy Charles (Corentyne) was able to better his mark with a leap 13.75m.
It came down to the final attempt and Charles, who went first had a mix-up in his run-up and ended up failing in his attempt, Wray made no mistakes, he was able to sail to 13.84m for the win and a new mark.
