…encampment and training began last weekend

A SQUAD of a whopping 65 athletes, drawn from 11 different clubs, has been put together by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG for next month’s South American Junior Championships, set for the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora from June 3 to 4.
The squad will be led by the athletes who recently represented Guyana at the CARIFTA Games, including gold medallists Compton Caesar, Chantoba Bright, Claudrice McKoy, Natrena Hooper, and silver medallist Anfernee Headecker.
The list includes several athletes from clubs outside of Georgetown, apart from Linden. The squad includes Super Upcoming Runners’ athletes from Berbice, while Region One athlete Ricky Williams is listed as representing athletes from Mercury Fast Laners Club.
The team also includes at least two overseas-based athletes in Hooper and Guyana Defence Force’s Collia Rowe.
A one-month intermittent encampment, began last weekend, May 5, and will conclude on May 28. The athletes will be housed at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.
They are being trained by a number of coaches including Anson Ambrose, Johnny Gravesande, Julian Edmonds, Christopher Gaskin, Moses Pantlitz, Robert Chisholm, Rawle Griffith and Quincy Clarke, as well as Kenisha Headley.

Looking to use home-ground advantage, the AAG hopes to have maximum participation at this international meet. Guyana will be allowed two athletes per event. The competition comprises 41 individual and four relay events.
However, meeting a maximum quota of three athletes in all the events will pose somewhat of a problem for the local side, since Guyana does not traditionally train for or participate in several athletic events.
Guyana will be challenged to field athletes in the hurdles as well as the pole vault, steeplechase, hammer throw, decathlon and hepthalon events. Notwithstanding this, Guyana over the past few years made a few small strides in the participation of hurdles events.
Manager for the team, Cornel Rose, told Chronicle Sport that the issue is being looked at, and that by next weekend an assessment will be done to know if Guyana will be able to find athletes for these non-traditional events.
“We’re trying to, but based on what we see (next) weekend here, we will be able to make a definite decision on that. The coaches are working on that,” Rose explained.
Moreover, not all of the athletes on the long list may necessarily make up the final team, as the athletes “will be required to meet set guidelines for further selective process,” according to Rose.