With the Early Season Classic completed but the remainder of the athletics season in Guyana put on pause, Aubrey Hutson, President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), reflected on the event, and shared his hopes for the dormant period ahead.
AAG President, Aubrey Hutson
“I think it was great that we can have such an event under these conditions. We know the athletes do need competition going into the season. We’re hoping that this virus can disappear soon, so we’ve got to stay sharp,” he declared.
Reflecting on a packed weekend of track and field events staged at the Leonora Synthetic Track last weekend as the Early Season Classic, Hutson highlighted a few outstanding performances that were witnessed by a large group of athletes and a handful of unattached supporters.
He said he had seen some great potential that just needed a bit more perfecting.
“Emmanuel Archibald came home and gave the athletes some good competition in both the long jump and the 100M; and you know that Davin Fraser running 10.02s this early in the season is still great!
“Yeah, he pulled up a little bit in the 200, but this is information that the coaches could work with. Looking at him, I think that he’s destined for greatness. We just have to ensure that we have a programme that is in sync with his place of employ, so that he can truly reflect that great athlete that he can be,” Hutson shared.
Probed about the rationale behind the meet, and questioned whether it had achieved its goal, Huston answered in the affirmative, noting that every opportunity to better the local youngsters would be taken.
“I always believe that we should separate the early in the season; but then, in an event like this, we try to put the premiere senior athletes against our juniors to see how they match up; because, bear in mind that people like Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean, that we have to go in to CARIFTA against, those junior athletes would outperform our seniors. So, to give them the necessary preparedness for the kind of competition they’ll be going to meet, we must do that match-up,” the AAG Boss explained.
Now that the COVID-19 outbreak has put athletics worldwide on pause, Hutson revealed, the meet times will not go to waste, but rather be sent to the IAAF, should the local athletes look to compete on the international stage, when conditions revert to normalcy.
“It’s important that these athletes record the times they did record and have the kind of performances that they did have today. This is going to go now to the World Athletics Body, so it’s going to be in the international books. So, any athlete who is being invited to the Grand Prix or the South American Classics, they can look back at the results of today and say we think they are good candidates,” he disclosed.
In regard to the CARIFTA Games, the AAG President shared that it is the intention to keep the athletes active, but the modus operandi would be left up to athlete and coach.
“The notice from NACAC said we should stay sharp, and we intend to keep our athletes active. We’ve been getting advice to avoid public transport; avoid coaching sessions; that athletes should stay home; but this is up to the athletes and the coaches to see how they can manage their athletes under the prevailing conditions; and we hope to God that everything stays clear for them,” he said.
Hutson admitted to being impressed with the growth of the sport, and even shared that it is his belief that once the sport gathers new athletes, the level of competition will rise accordingly.
“Yes, it’s growing. I think that once we continue to keep the sport interesting and continue to have meet after meet — and you, the media, put it out there for the public to hear and to see what we’re doing — it’s attracting more athletes to the sport. And I think that once our numbers go up, our performances will go up likewise,” he said.
