Baird breaks Javelin national record for fourth time

By Treiston Joseph

National Javelin record holder Leslain Baird improved on his mark with a brilliant throw on Sunday when the Athletics Association of Guyana held an age group meet at the Guyana National Track and Field Centre, Leonora. Baird’s new mark is now 69.97 metres, surpassing his previous mark of 68.96 metres.  In an interview with News Room Sport, Baird shared his thoughts on the record-breaking performance.

“It’s a great feeling to actually break the record in Guyana and not abroad. I had always wanted to break the record in front of my home crowd, so that was a dream that became a reality for me, ” Baird stated.  In addition, the Guyana Defence Force athlete noted that his performance on Sunday is just preview to what he hopes to achieve in 2017.

“Well it’s a great start to the season that’s still early, but more is to come I am just getting started…  finally I am actually focusing on my javelin and I am trying to put the record at least to 77m this year,” Baird shared.  Baird, who also ran the 400 metres, noted that preparation is where it needs to be for continual progress.

“I should say the training is very hard it is not as easy as I expected, I have three coaches training me; Robert Chisholm, Raul Griffith and coach Julian Edmonds and they are really helping a lot with strength training, speed training and technical work,” Baird noted.

However, the Javelin record holder has his sights set on a few goals and shared them with News Room Sport.  “I am really looking forward to Commonwealth Games next year so that is why I am training so hard, but South America championship is coming up in June where I hope the AAG selects me so that I can use that as a follow up to commonwealth next year,” Baird highlighted.

Baird has decided to stop all track training in an effort to solely focus on his Javelin which so far is seemingly working this early in the season.