By Rawle Toney

PRESIDENT of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Aubrey Hutson told Chronicle Sport on Monday, that along with North and Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Track and Field Association, the custodians of the Caribbean Free Trade Association Games, Guyana will be hosting the 2022 event with COVID-19 in mind.

Guyana will play host for the 50th edition of the Caribbean most prestigious Youth and Junior Track and Field event, and Hutson pointed out that there will be no further delay of the championship, adding that sports administrators and organisers have found a way to co-exist with the coronavirus, while keeping everyone safe.

Hutson said AAG and NACAC are following in the footsteps of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is moving full speed ahead with the hosting of next year’s Olympic Games, with or without COVID-19.

“While we would welcome a cure or some kind of relief from COVID-19, we have to continue to push ahead, and do whatever we could do, and operate in an environment where we limit transmission of the virus from one person to the other,” Hutson said in an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport.

Hutson further noted that the guidelines given by World Athletics (formally IAAF) are compounded on all fronts to combat COVID-19 in Track and Field, but they will have to coordinate with the Government of Guyana.

The 49th edition of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Games would have been held April 10-13 in Bermuda, but, due to the Caribbean, like the rest of the world battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers had to move the event to 2021; the same year that was designated for Guyana to host one of the most prestigious youth track and field events in the world.

“They (NACAC) are basically holding our hands in the process. It’s a foregone conclusion that the CARIFTA Games will be held next year and in 2022, so we’re being guided by them daily on everything that we need to do which must include the protection of our athletes,” Hutson said.

Meanwhile, looking ahead, Hutson revealed that AAG will run off its season next month, with the intention of giving the already shortlisted athletes the chance to be competition-ready for the 2021 CARIFTA Games.

Guyana is a founding-member of CARIFTA, and in 1972, the Games was initiated to mark the Caribbean Free Trade Association’s transition to CARICOM.

The 2017 CARIFTA Games will go down as one of the country’s most memorable outings, given the fact that athletes were able to bag eight medals – four gold, three bronze and one silver.

It was at the 46th edition of the games, hosted in Curacao, where Linden’s Compton Caesar created history by winning Guyana’s first-ever gold medal in the 100m event.