AAG officials at the launch
By Treiston Joseph
The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) will once again play host to the second leg of the South American 10k that is scheduled for November 5.
At the press conference held on Monday, President of the AAG, Aubrey Hutson made it clear that the association is ready to host the 15th edition of the South American 10k.
“I’m proud to once again be able to host this year’s edition of the South American 10k; Guyana has proven to be a good host for international events as proven by our recent hosting of the South American Junior Championships, so we are working with the other presidents from South America and with Copa Airlines to see how many international athletes we can get her from more particularly the ones from South America.
“We’re hoping from a Guyana stand point that our athletes can run as a team and keep the money here, but if we are looking to raise the bar we have the get the competition and that is why we are looking to bring as many international athletes as possible,” Hutson noted.
In addition, Hutson highlighted that because of Guyana’s “geographic” location there are no “straight” flights to any of the South American countries which has caused a damper on some of the nations attending the event.
However, the AAG boss noted that because of such, the partnership with Copa Airlines has been formed to help in bridging that gap and even related that the AAG is “willing” to aid in paying for “some” of the athletes to come and compete.
Further, Hutson stated at the launching that competition will only bode well for the local guys, sharing that he discussed with Forde about the type of competition arriving that will only aid in the Guyanese distance star to run faster.
This will be the 15th edition of the South American 10k and unlike previous years where Cleveland Forde dominated for 11 consecutive years, the man known as “Little Kenyan” has not tasted the top podium spot in the last two years.
The event will run its regular route from 16:00h on the afternoon of November fifth, beginning at the GTT monument on Carifesta Avenue. Competitors will turn at Conversation Tree on the upward journey and return to the Monument in the National Park for the finish.
In addition to regular top prize money of US$1,000, the AAG will continue the trend of giving away a genuine gold medal to the winner of the event, a practice of the last two years. Registration forms are available for the event at AAG’s head office in Light Street.
