AP Invitational to continue boosting local athletes

…More support from corporate entities needed

By Jemima Holmes

It is quite ironic that a power outage and total darkness became the unfortunate highlight of this year’s Aliann Pompey Invitational meet, hosted at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora, WCD over the last weekend.
It, however, remains a fact that the ‘blackout’ added some spice to the fourth edition of this international invitational meet, although it halted the proceedings for quite some time.

Misfortune notwithstanding, former Guyanese Olympian Aliann Pompey was pleased with the quality of this year’s meet.
“Aside from the untimely blackout, I think it was a success. I appreciate the fans that stayed until the end, and the athletes for bearing with us,” Pompey said.

Questioned about challenges the meet faced this year, Pompey highlighted a smaller budget as one of the difficult areas. The former 400m specialist explained how the lack of funds and sponsorship stifled the meet, especially in relation to enticing international athletes.
“This year’s budget was cut by a substantial amount. We weren’t able to raise the (amount of) funds that we did last year, and it showed. We had Kirani James and other big athletes (last year), but these athletes don’t come to race for free; so that’s all it takes (money). The more money and resources we have, the more athletes we can bring in,” she explained.
In this regard, Pompey went on to disclose why so much emphasis was placed on the contributions of this year’s sponsors, which included Banks DIH, Sentinel Security and the Ministry of Communities. She also made a public call to individuals and corporate entities who have the resources to take advantage of the opportunity to boost the meet next time around.
“That’s one of the reasons we had a separate press conference for the sponsors this year: to highlight the contributions, and to say that we wouldn’t be able to do what we did without them. That being said, there is work to do. There are companies and individuals who can truly make a difference,” Pompey expounded.
Questioned about the direction she hopes the AP Invitational would take in the future, she declared her hope is to maintain a quality track-and-field meet that would benefit Guyanese athletes. However, the meet will continue to feature international stars.
“The hope is that it grows every year. In terms of direction: just growth, whether that means attracting bigger names or showcasing Guyana’s talent. I think this year we had a lot of local athletes featured mainly because they are doing so well. But it is an international meet, and we won’t stray from that too much; and (we will) continue to make it an international field for all the events,” she disclosed.
Quite a few of last Saturday’s races — for instance, the male and female 800m races — featured all-Guyanese athletes. This, she explained, was not the doing of fate, but a measure used to boost the confidence of local athletes.
“There were some races where we didn’t have an international field because I want the local athletes to continue to develop and be encouraged, so we had some races specifically for them,” Pompey explained.
With the help of individual sponsors and corporate entities, the Aliann Pompey Invitational is sure to continue creating a solid platform for aspiring Guyanese athletes who are looking to test the proverbial waters against international talent.
Without a doubt, the invitational meet will return in 2020; hopefully, bigger and better.