Aliann Pompey put Guyana on the podium at two major track and field competitions, capturing silver at both the Commonwealth Games and Central American and Caribbean Sport Organisation (CACSO) Games
Although the rain affected much of the local track and field season which already had insufficient competitions, a few athletes managed to clear those hurdles and make considerable strides on the track in 2010.
While most panels only recognise just the top athletes, Guyana Times International Sports looked at a wider spectrum, based on their performances at local, regional and international competitions.
Athletes of the Year
At 32-years-old, Aliann Pompey is, hands down, the athlete of the year, having captured her second Commonwealth Games (CWG) medal in October to follow up on her silver medal at the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organisation (CACSO) Games two months earlier. Pompey crossed the finish line third at the CWG in India but was prompted to second placed after Nigeria’s Folashade Abugan failed a drug test and was stripped of her silver medal. Pompey, who won that event in 2002 when the CWG was held in Manchester England, now has her name etched in the record books as a CWG gold and silver medalist.
Apart from her CWG and CACSO success, Pompey also placed fifth at the IAAF World Indoor Championships and broke Guyana’s national indoor quarter mile record, which now stands at 51.83s.
GTS recognises Guyana’s long distance ambassador Cleveland Forde as the Male Athlete of Year, as he has managed to turn in quality performances as a locally trained athlete. Forde had spent three years at the Kipchoge Keino High Performance Training Camp in Kenya, but after the scholarship ended, he was brought back to train in Guyana, which he felt was a move in the wrong direction.
Nevertheless, Forde, who is now on his own, used what he learned in Kenya and ran away with a CACSO bronze
National 5000m and 1500m record holder Cleveland Forde
medal this year. Forde’s third place finish in the 5000m was less than two seconds slower than his personal best and national 5000m record mark of 14:07.08s which he set back in 2006 when he was training in Kenya.
Forde also posted his second national record (3:44.23s) after shattering Desmond Hector’s 17-yearold record in October, and for the second straight year, won two of the three stages of the South American 10k.
Junior athletes-of-the-year
Jevina Straker and Chavez Ageday, who both attended the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore, were the top juniors of 2010. Straker, the reigning Junior Sportswoman and Athlete-of-the Year, managed to replicate the feat that earned her those awards. The 16year-old Straker successfully defended her 1500m title at the region’s most prestigious track and field competition, the Junior CARIFTA Games. The only blemish to Straker’s record was a loss in her pet event (1500m) to Region Nine’s Doretta Wilson at Nationals.
Ageday dominated the junior sprint events and managed to establish his electronically timed personal records 10.87s and 22.1s in the 100m and 200m respectively. Ageday also placed fourth in the B final at the Youth Olympics and completed a sprint double at Nationals.
Most promising athletes
After clocking the fastest documented 200m on local soil of the last decade, Rupert Perry is definitely one of the athletes to keep your eyes on in 2011. Perry, 22, clocked 20.8s seconds at the Inter- Services Athletics Championships after losing a controversial 100m decision to his fellow serviceman from the Guyana Defence Force, Quinse Clarke.
Race of the year: Rupert Perry (right) barely edged Winston George (centre) to win the 200m at ISAC 2010 and clocked 20.8 in the process
Teeming with talent is emerging sprint star Ashley Tasher, who broke out of her shell this year. Tasher won three gold medals at The Hampton International Games in Trinidad and Tobago and shattered the 100m and 200m record at the national schools championships. This year, Tasher clocked 12.34s in the 100m and 25.5s in the 200m, which are her new personal records and are among the fastest times of any female sprinter locally this year.
Top performers:
Wayne Harlequin has managed to keep an impeccable winning streak in the 400m, running sub-50 timings on quite a few occasions. Harlequin has also stepped up and secured a few 800m wins during the year. Dennis Horatio, who has won several events this year, has not showed any improvements to his personal records, even though he attended overseas competitions. Clarke competed in spite being injured for the majority of the season and still managed to pick up two medals at the Hampton International Games in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as defend his GDF and ISAC 100m titles.
The barefooted roadrunning wonder boy from the Mining Town, Nathaniel Giddings, got his big break with an impressive performance at the South American 10km stage one and was chosen to compete in stage two in Suriname. Giddings also won the 5000m at Nationals. Cleveland Thomas showed tremendous improvement during the year, especially in the middle distance events. Thomas broke the two-minute barrier in the 800m on more than one occasion and even gave Forde a challenge late in the season in the half-mile.
Ashley Tasher had her break-out year in 2010, recording some of the fastest times of the year in the 100m and 200m.
Progressive Youth Club’s Tiffany Carto clocked 12.1s in the first part of the year, which is impressive considering
Doretta Wilson stunned two-time CARIFTA gold medallist Jevina Straker to win this girls U-18 1500m at Nationals in November
that she is only 16, while former 200m/400m sprint prodigy Carlwyn Collins seems to have shaken off his recurring injuries and made an emphatic return with a victory over U-20 schools 100m champions Winston Caesar at Nationals. Derwin Mackenzie gave a memorable burst of speed at the University of Guyana’s track and field championship, reminiscent of his days competing at Nationals at the school level. Patrick King is emerging as quite a force to be reckoned with in the 200m and 400m, while Police rank Winston George continues to turn heads.
George is among the leading contenders in the 100m, 200m, and 400m events and has competed at some competitions in all three. George, who is GTS’ choice for most improved athlete, clocked 21 seconds flat and is recognised by many as the driving force which fueled Perry to record that 20.8s.
