By Rawle Toney

PRESIDENT of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, is still hoping that they can pull off the hosting of the South American U-23 Championship next year.

Guyana, in 2018 at the South American Athletics Confederation Congress, was named as host for the biennial event.

However, the advent of the Coronavirus forced cancellation and postponement of many events globally and as such, according to Hutson, talks have resurfaced on finding ways to accommodate some of South America’s top athletes.

“We’re still looking at running off the South American U-23 at a date to be agreed ourselves and CONSUDATLE, which is the South American governing body for Track and Field. The whole COVID-19 pandemic has created a problem for us hosting those games, simply because the borders were closed,” Hutson said.

The AAG president added that they would’ve received guidelines from World Athletics on hosting competitions and keeping everyone safe from COVID-19 and as such, those guiding principles will be adhered to whenever the green light is given for the sport’s return locally.

Hutson said he’s looking to November for the start of their Athletics season, with the cross country in the National Park and developmental meets in Linden and Berbice.

“We also want to host our version of the South American 10K late November or early December, but again, we’re waiting on approval from the Ministry of Health or the COVID-19 Task Force to have these events once we would’ve rolled out what our guidelines are from the governing body (World Athletics),” Hutson said.

Meanwhile, it was noted to Chronicle Sport that the AAG would’ve met once again with Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr and this time, they had a walk-through at the Synthetic Track at Leonora.

Ramson, Hutson said, is already sold on Guyana’s hosting of the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games in 2022, and as such, their visit to Leonora was to ascertain the amount of work needed at the venue, in order to properly host the games.

The competition of the ‘Warm Up’ area, repairs or replacement of the already deteriorated five-year-old facility, additional seating and VIP parking, are just some of the things discussed with Minister Ramson, according to Hutson.

“Guyana is on track to successfully host the 2022 CARIFTA Games. The Minister has pledged the Government of Guyana’s support and we’re continuing to be guided by the game’s governing body, on how we can make the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games a memorable one,” the AAG president stated.