Mackenzie HS take top honours at schools relay championships

By Michelangelo Jacobus

Athletes from 17 schools across 14 districts in Guyana competed for top honors at the Banks DIH sponsored National Schools Relay Championship on Wednesday at the Leonora Track and Field Stadium, West Coast Demerara.

Some seven tertiary institutions including the University of Guyana, Linden Technical Institute, Georgetown Technical Institute and Upper Corentyne Training Center were also represented in the one day event.

A dominant performance by Mackenzie High School athletes ensured that they walked away as champions at the conclusion of the second staging of the National Schools Relay Championship.

The event which was originally slated to kick off at 10:00h was delayed due to rain, however the young athletes braved the weather and treated the small crowd to a day of highly competitive running.

At the end of the day, Mackenzie High School was adjudged the winner with a combined total of 108 points, while Christianburg/Wismar Secondary came in second with 83 points. Closing out the top three was the West Demerara Secondary School sharply behind with 78 points.

The highlights of the day were the keenly anticipated 4×100 and 4×200 relays in the U-14 and U-18 categories.

In the girls U-14 4×100 relays, West Demerara Secondary (55.90s) claimed first place with their star anchor, Binka Joseph winning by at least 10 meters, Christianburg/Wismar Secondary was second (59.03s) with Mackenzie High School (1m0.68s) in a close third. Meanwhile, in the boys 4×100, Mackenzie High (54.50s) took first, Bartica Secondary (56.40s) second and C/burg Wismar (56.80s) third.

For the U-18 girls 4×100, Mackenzie High outran the field with a combined time of 50 seconds while New Campbellville Secondary (53.10s) came in second with West Demerara Secondary (53.90s) in third.

Christianburg/Wismar Secondary (45.80s) claimed first place in the Boys U-18 category with Mackenzie High (46.20s) second and St John’s College (46.80s) third.

Earlier in the day, the girls from New Campbellville (2m9.10s) edged Mackenzie High (2m11.20) to take the gold while Christianburg Wismar (2m11.70s) claimed bronze in the Girls U-14 4×200.

Over in the male category, West Demerara Secondary (1m56.60s) copped gold, Mackenzie High (1m58.80s) silver and Rosignol Secondary School (2m.0.40s) took bronze.

In the U-18 4×200, Tutorial Academy boys (1m37s) beat C/Burg Wismar (1m37.70s) by 7/10ths of a second to claim gold while West Demerara (1m42.30s) claimed bronze.

Mackenzie High (1m55.10s) U-18 girls thrashed their rivals New Campbellville (2m0.90s) by 5 seconds to take gold while West Demerara (2m1.30s) came in third.

At the tertiary level, the University of Guyana team was dominant as they won both the male and female categories.

Administrator of the Allied Arts Unit in the Ministry of Education, Desiree Wyles-Ogle, who is also an organizer of the meet, said that despite the weather and some minor setbacks the participation and enthusiasm of the participants was “awesome”, Wyles-Ogle also pointed out that there was a lot of “promising talent” shown during the meet. She continued that the Track meet was started in 2016 as part of Guyana’s golden jubilee of independence celebrations and expressed hope that the event will be an annual feature.