Much is expected when AAG hosts CARIFTA in 2022

It is now no secret that the Athletics Association of Guyana has negotiated with the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) athletics body in order to host the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Games in 2022, after this year’s Bermuda Games were postponed until Easter of 2021.

While the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) in earlier times were focused on getting the country and its athletes ready for the grand hosting of the games on local shores in 2021, the postponement news came as a relief to the Association; it has been given more time to organize a much smoother event.
The CARIFTA Games were first hosted in Barbados in 1972 as a marker for the Association’s transition into the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and although Guyana was part of the initial organization of the Free Trade Association and even CARICOM, the lucrative Games, in their 48-year history, have never been hosted by Guyana.
What will make the 2022 Games special is the fact that it will be the 50th year of the Games’ existence and the 50th edition of the event. As such, the AAG is focused on hosting the Games with all the pomp and splendour that the land of many waters has to offer.
“Ironically, this is going to give Guyana an even greater opportunity to showcase our ability to host these Games at the level that is expected from us hosting CARIFTA Games,” AAG President, Aubrey Hutson, said.
However, when NACAC officials had visited in January of this year, they had highlighted a few areas that may need attention. For instance, the Leonora Track and Field Facility on the West Coast of Demerara, at which the games are likely to be held, while issues with the proximity of warm up spaces to the call room and the situation of the long jump area were brought up, this extra time gives the local Association more time to get it right.
Hospitality should not be a problem in a country like Guyana, which frequently pushes the agenda of sport tourism; and according to the NACAC officials back then, Guyana’s hotels are up to par. But with over 1500 persons scheduled to make their way to the coast of South America in 2022, the AAG has thankfully been granted enough time to ensure that the local hospitality sector is ready for the influx.
Another area that the association is focused on is sponsorship, which may not have panned out if the Games were still on for 2021.
“As it relates to our athletes, it gives us a little more elbow room to prepare our athletes for these championships. And secondly, with the present political situation in Guyana and the global economic crisis that is taking place, it gives our sponsors as well a little more elbow room for the stabilization of world economies, to understand where Guyana is as a player in the global market,” Hutson noted.
All in all, the AAG Boss sees the opportunity as a great one for the sport locally, and is prepared to get the athletes ready to represent their homeland to the best of their abilities when they are ready to host the Games.
“It’s good for Guyana, it’s good for the sport, and it’s good for our athletes, because we will continue to work with them and give them opportunities to be a part of local competition whenever the Government lifts the ban on assembly,” Hutson stated.