National Senior Athletics Championships set for May

– 4th developmental meet to be hosted

The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) has taken the decision to make another tweak in their calendar of activities in order to ensure that athletes are in prime shape for the National Senior Athletics Championships.
The National Seniors, initially scheduled for April 17 and 18, have now been rescheduled to May 29 and 30.
This decision comes after a number of prevailing issues, which according to Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) president Aubrey Hutson would have diminished the quality of the National Seniors.
“Simply because there’s some things that we need to do to prepare ourselves properly for that meet that having it on the 17th and 18th of April,” Hutson related to the Guyana Times Sport during a telephone interview on Tuesday.
“We would not have been able to carry out the level of championship that we think we need to have, especially with the influx of foreigners coming in.”
He continued sharing, “We have issues with the track and things like the starting blocks not staying in place, for the 100, 200, 400 meters.”
In the meantime, April 18 will still be highlighted on the calendars of local athletes, since the AAG is adamant about hosting a fourth developmental meet for 2021 on that date.
Speaking on the decision to host another developmental meet, Hutson stated, “The developmental meet is basically to keep the athletes active, and give the coaches a chance to check the progress of the athlete in between training sessions.”
“So, you don’t, you have to be able to train and then test, to go back to training again and test again. And that’s the process that is used throughout the season for athletes preparing for, you know, particular high level meets like World championships or the Olympics.,” the Athletics boss added.
On the importance of hosting developmental meets, the AAG President explained that it is a great indicator for local athletes and coaches.
“So, a coach would give, would set a certain program for the athlete. And when they reach in these developmental meets, they would check the different phases of their progress. And if they’re not satisfied with one or all of these, they will know which area to work on. Track and field is not just about getting up and going and run you know, there’s a lot of science in it.”
The South American Senior Championships is still slated for May 14-16, hence preceding Guyana’s Senior championships. The date for the Aliann Pompey Invitational (June 19) will remain in place.