Christopher Jones
– CARIFTA 2021 plans already in the pipeline
By Jemima Holmes
Local athletes will have their opportunity to display their ever improving skills next weekend, as they compete in celebration of Guyana’s 53rd Independence Anniversary.
The fourth Independence Track and Field Championships which has become an annual event will run off next weekend on May 18 and 19 at the Leonora Track and Field Center. The Championship was the brain child of the Guyana Overseas Based Sports Association and since its inception has grown to be a highly anticipated event in the track and field community.
Speaking at the launch on Tuesday morning at the National Racquet Center, President of the Overseas Based Sports Association, David Thomas, disclosed that the organizers have sought to make the event more inclusive by gathering athletes from all ten administrative regions.
“This year at the classics that is going to be held, we going to be touching all ten regions of the country. We’re going to work on making sure that all Guyanese youth who have the potential to participate in sports will be there,” Thomas stated.
Zeroing in on the logistics of the two day tournament, athletics Association of Guyana President Aubrey Hutson revealed that they will stick to the usual age categories but the younger athletes will be encouraged to participate in multiple events.
“Next Weekend is going to be an all age group championships, where we have athletes from 8-and-under doing multiple events and they must compete in all three events. We have the 9-11 with the same thing because we don’t want to encourage the athletes to be specific in that early age group, so we encourage them to do multiple events and the later on we’ll see the ones they’re excelling in and then work with the coach on specialization,” Hutson explained.
The age groups for the competition will be 8 and Under, 9 – 11 years, 12-14 years, 15-17 years, 18 years and above and the Masters: 35 years and over.
Meanwhile, Director of Sport (Dos) Christopher Jones on behalf of the National Sports Commission and the Ministry of Social Cohesion with responsibility for Sport pledged the entities’ continued commitment to assisting the event.
“We’re only too pleased to be associated with this the fourth year of this tournament, as we made the commitment the first year to Mr. Thomas and his executives that whatever support is necessary providing that the funds are available, the NSC would lend support. Today again, we pledge our support, to this event,” the DoS assured.
Speaking on behalf of the sponsors, Linden Jones of the Guyana Committee of Services while ensuring his support, commended the organizers of the event.
“We see this as an opportunity to make or presence felt, so we are going to be sponsoring one or more events along with Guybisco, to make this tournament an even bigger success. We want to congratulate the team that is organizing this event, we think it’s a timely venture and we look forward for a real competitive competition,” Jones said.
The GSC has been actively sponsoring sporting events and athletes in their respective ventures. Other members of the Committee are: Leslie Blacks, Eugiene Noel and Joseph Ramkumar.
Amongst the sponsors of the Independence Championships are Forrestor Lumber yard, Banks DIH, Guyana Committee of Services, Guybisco and Sybil’s of the USA. A small entrance fee of $300 will be charged on both competition days.
Peeking into CARIFTA 2021
While the occasion was set to launch the 4th Independence Track and Field tournament, the Director of Sport took advantage of the moment to share and discuss the plans for the 2021 Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Games that will be hosted in Guyana.
Jones disclosed that although the games are roughly two years away, the NSC along with the AAG have begun consultations on the way forward.
“As mentioned, in 2021, Guyana will be hosting the CARIFTA Junior championships and preparations for those meets in other countries would have perhaps started a year before but Guyana has already started preparation,” Jones disclosed.
While detailing what will need to be done, the Director of Sport shared that in the coming weeks a secretariat will be set up where constant planning and execution will be done.
“We can tell you thus far that preparations are already being made to establish a secretariat which would first be located right here (National Racquet Center, Camp Street) and as we get closer to 2021 another venue will be sighted because we expect the committee would be widened,” he said.
Furthermore, the DoS is of the opinion that local tournaments such as the Independence Championships will act as scouting platforms.
“These tournaments that would be had by Mr. Thomas and his executives provides an opportunity to do scouting to identify those potential athletes that would be representing Guyana in 2021,”
Additionally, Jones believes that having the games hosted on local soil will boost the numbers in the Guyanese contingent that will participate, owing to the elimination of travel costs.
