Former champ Cleveland Forde winning the Guyana leg ahead of Winston Missigher in 2018. (Calvin Chapman photo)
The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) will host their fourth track meet following restart of sport activities this Sunday when the 18th South American 10k road race gets underway from the National Park.
The other three meets that were competed since health authorities and the COVID-19 task force green-lit sports’ resumption included the respective cross-country races in Berbice at the Esplande ground and in Linden at the Bayrock ground, while the third race was the Asics Ekiden Marathon in which team Guyana finished in the top 100 amongst thousands of entries.
Head of the AAG, Aubrey Hutson, in an invited comment with Kaieteur Sport, confirmed that all systems are in place for a hiccup free event and although they have not received an official letter of approval from the national COVID-19 Task Force, he mentioned that he had received some verbal confirmation thus far.
Among the top racers set to compete on Sunday include, last year’s runner-up for both the Guyana and Suriname legs; Winston Missigher, who trailed Kenyan Alex Ekesa. However, Missigher will fancy his chances since there will be no participation from international athletes due to travel restrictions brought on by the covid-19 pandemic.
Cleveland Thomas and Jonathan Fagundes that won the cross-country races in Linden and Berbice, respectively, will also be staking claim for the title with the likes of Cleveland Forde, Ronnel Newton, Royston Fordyce and possibly Devaun Barrington all ingredients for a spicy race.
Last year’s South American 10k leg in Guyana witnessed a clean sweep by Kenyans Alex Ekesa and Veronica Jepkokei who won the open male and female categories, respectively.
In that race, the Kenyans weren’t the only foreign competitors but athletes from Grenada, the United States, Suriname, St. Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG) and Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) also competed.
Following the South American 10k, the final Cross Country race for 2020 will get underway on December 14th at National Park, while the 2020 calendar of events will conclude with a Developmental Meet at the Police Progressive Youth Club (PPYC) ground at Eve Leary on December 28th.
2021 will then run off as early as January 3rd with an intercity relay event at the Enmore Community Center ground. (Calvin Chapman)