4th developmental meeting pushed to April 24

… Deferred due to COVID-19 concerns

Last week the Guyana Athletic Association (AAG) made the decision to postpone its fourth developmental meeting due to coronavirus concerns.
Sunday, April 18 would have marked the fourth developmental meeting on the Guyana athletics calendar. The weekend of April 17 and 18 was initially penalized for hosting the country’s Senior National Track and Field Championships, but this plan was scrapped due to problems with the track and start blocks, which were not up to the international standard.
However, the revised plan to hold a developmental meeting in that slot was not seen instead, due to DIS’s decision to postpone the event.
Speaking over the phone with Guyana Times Sport on Monday, AAG President Aubrey Hutson shared why his Association made that move.
“The decision was taken, as a matter of fact, to defer against the background of our observation in Guyana that the number of COVID cases is increasing,” explained Hutson.
He added, “And we’re still in a dilemma, because it’s about what is going to happen at the South American level with Argentina.”
“Just come off another development [meet], I think, give it some space, and hopefully the numbers are down, so that we can have a comfortable meeting, ”concluded the head of athletics.

A fourth meeting is still on the cards and is expected to be executed this weekend, Saturday, April 24, with the necessary permissions from the COVID-19 National Task Force.
Meanwhile, despite the adjournment of the national meeting, there was no club training, giving Coaches ample time to prepare their athletes for the approaching competition.
“No, no, our athletes train; you know, doing what they have to do, ”Hutson revealed.
He continued, “But in order to prepare for competition, the Coach will need to know well in advance exactly what days we will have a competition, to know, you know, how to organize his training, what kind of sessions to take having with his athletes in preparation. ”
Additionally, according to the head of athletics, this change in dates will not affect the dates May 29 and May 30 scheduled for the National Senior Championships.
Meanwhile, the South American Senior Championships, which are slated for May 14-16, remain a question mark, due to the increasing COVID-19 outbreaks in the South American region.