On Wednesday, the Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry and Minister of Social Cohesion Dr. George Norton; met with senior officials from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) to address the planning of the 57th MOE and GTU National Schools Championships to be held at the National Track and Field Centre (NTFC) at Leonora.
The meeting took place in the MOE Boardroom on Brickdam and was also attended by the Director of Sport Christopher Jones.
At the meeting, it was agreed that the opening ceremony of the championship will be held on Sunday November 26 at 16:00h at the (NTFC). However, the first official event which is the cycling championships will run off the very next day from 06:00h in the national park while the swimming championships will take place a few hours later at the National Aquatic Centre in Liliendaal from 10:00h.
The National Schools Championship has been officially moved to the National Track and Field Facility at Leonora, West Demerara
The highlight of the championship, the Track and Field events, will commence on Tuesday November 28 and will run until December 1 at the NFTC. The final day will also feature the closing ceremony.
Speaking to Guyana Times Sport exclusively via telephone, Minister Norton noted that the decision to move the Championship to the synthetic track at Leonora was made some time ago but due to a couple of factors, it is only now that the move was confirmed.
Among those factors that delayed the move was the trepidation of athletes not being prepared to compete on the synthetic track and lack of proper athletic footwear; it was thought that if the athletes competed bare-footed on the track there would be injuries. However schools in the region close to the facility have all been utilizing it for some time now and no injuries have been reported; thus the decision to move the Nationals to the synthetic track was confirmed.
The meeting also addressed issues such as security, accommodation, meals and other championship related issues. A number of other meetings are planned to ensure that this year’s championship is a successful one. (Michelangelo Jacobus)
