By Treiston Joseph
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, on Monday shared his thoughts on the national athletes’ accommodation at the National Gymnasium where they were encamped ahead of the South American Championships.
Hutson was speaking for the first time after a photo surfaced at the weekend with the national athletes seen resting on the bleachers after reports of the dorms becoming extremely heated at nights. According to Hutson, the AAG is of the view that it is doing its best with the necessary resources, pointing out that no athlete or official complained of the situation.
“I’ve never had complaints about the Gymnasium not being suitable; as a matter of fact I have never heard the athletes complain about it being too hot. I think we try to do the best that we can under the present circumstances for the development of the sport and hence the Gymnasium was chosen and again I listened to the team managers and I did not have any complaints. And as I said it’s not the ideal place, but based on the prevailing circumstances I think it’s the best that we could have done,” Hutson explained
In addition, the AAG boss noted that financial constraints are also part of such problems. “I’m not the technical person here, but I can tell you from a logistical and financial position we are not in the habit of cutting our suit to oversize.”
He continued, “I mean yes the ideal place to put them up is at the Marriott, but we have to understand its one pie that we have to share, one financial pie, and how we distribute those finances in some areas we will have to make cut backs and in some areas we can do better than we did previously.”
Meanwhile, the meet will be held this coming weekend where all athletes including the locals will be housed at the Ramada Princess Hotel.
