ATHLETICS Guyana (AG) is moving full steam ahead for the 20th edition of the South American 10k race. The event which was initially scheduled to speed off last Sunday, November 6, will now see the top roadrunners in Guyana and possibly the regional line-up at Montrose for the 15:30hrs start.

The race begins on the East Coast of Demerara and will finish at the National Park. About 200 athletes will vie for millions in cash and prizes.

Head of AG, Aubrey Hutson, had divulged: “This year, it’s going to be the 20th anniversary (of the event), so we’d like to put a little more into it, and we’d like this event to look as professional as we could in Guyana.”

He continued: “There are quite a few changes that we have made to the race in terms of where we run it. We know we would’ve tried the East Coast, then we went to West Demerara, and we continued to face the issue of traffic congestion and traffic encroaching into the event. So, we decided to use the World Athletics’ standards and standards used across the world in running this event against the flow of traffic.

“So, what we’re actually doing is forcing the Police and all that are involved in this event to actually close the route down for the running of this event,” Hutson explained.

The event will cost Athletics Guyana around US$60 000 to organise, and apart from the top prize purse of US$1000 for the winners in the respective male and female categories, top performers will also receive 18 carat gold medals.