Flashback: Guyana’s 2022 CARIFTA team showcasing their accolades alongside Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr., DoS Steve Ninvalle, and AAG President Aubrey Hutson
With the aim to not only better Guyana’s returns at the CARIFTA Games, but of increasing the number of athletes that qualify for the premier track and field event in the Caribbean Region, the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) is hyper-focused on changing the qualification template.
What had obtained in the past was that Guyanese athletes had the chance to make the qualification mark for their events at three CARIFTA trials, usually held from February to March. Now AAG President Aubrey Hutson says the association is looking at hosting one big trial in anticipation of the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games, scheduled for The Bahamas this easter weekend.
“Yes, we have a different approach, because I think Guyana has reached a point where we have to change our approach to get more success,” Hutson reasoned.
He explained, “First we used to hold like 3 trials in order for athletes to make the standards, but I think we are at a place now where we would like to set entry standards for the trial, and whoever gets first and second in those events that we would’ve agreed to prior, to select whoever gets first and second.
“Because we know our athletes are at a particular standard, that once they get to CARIFTA, they can do well,” he clarified.
As Hutson expounded on the reason behind the change of heart, he highlighted that the current qualification process does not allow much training time before the games. With the change, athletes would have at least a month to prepare with the national coaches.
“The system we used prior, to me, was putting too much stress on the athletes too late, or too close to CARIFTA. So, while we may have had them struggling to make the standards, they were not given the necessary space between the final trials and CARIFTA to really and truly maximise on what they would’ve built on to be good at CARIFTA,” he explained.
The AAG Boss further stated, “So, you may find they do a good trial, but once they got to CARIFTA, they were burnt out. We’re trying now to do trials a bit earlier.”
The ‘one big trial’ template is one that Jamaica has utilised successfully, and according to Hutson, it is time Guyana borrows a page from the Jamaicans’ book.
“So, we’re going to use the results from Schools’ Nationals, last year’s Youth and Juniors, and do a compilation of what Guyana’s standards really are. So, for the female 100m U17, not the athlete, but what the athletes are doing, is it good enough to go to CARIFTA and compete in these events.
And once we would’ve selected those events, we hold trials specific to those events, and whoever come through will be selected,” Hutson said as he went into more details about the intended change to the qualification process.
Shifting his focus to Guyana’s Caribbean counterpart, he explained, “Jamaica would do it! I mean, they’ve got the financing to do that kind of stuff, because they basically fill every event, so they hold one trial. While we do not have to hold trials to see who is good enough to make our team, I think we should walk past that and start doing like the Jamaicans.
“While we may not be able to do all the events, we must select those events that we think we’re going to be competitive at,” he concluded.
This year’s CARIFTA Games are scheduled for April 7th-10th in Nassau, Bahamas. Last year, a 14-member team returned with 7 medals from the Games: 2 gold, three silver and two bronze. Attoya Harvey bagged the lion’s share of medals, with a gold (U17: 1500M), a silver (U17: 3000M) and a bronze (U17: 800M). Anisha Gibbons went for back-to-back gold medals in the U20 Javelin, while Adriel Austin roped in another U20 medal in the 800M event.
Javon Roberts clinched silver in the Boys’ U17: 1500M event, while Naris McPherson grabbed silver in the Girls’ 800M.
