Athletes eager for completion of Linden synthetic track

By Akeem Greene

By the end of 2020, the expectation is that the Bayroc Community Centre Ground in Wismar, Linden, will have a new synthetic track.  The development is one some athletes from the Mining Town are eagerly anticipating.

At the conclusion of the 59^th National Schools Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships last November, Frederick McWilfred, Head of the Political Division at the Ministry of the Presidency, stated, “your next championships can be held at one of those two tracks because we will complete those tracks in 2020.”

The other synthetic track under construction is in New Amsterdam, Berbice.

A recent visit by News Room Sport to Linden, saw athletes training at the construction site, even though track is still compressed with just stones.

Sixteen-year-old Shaquka Tyrell stated they are happy for the project to be completed so as to allow Region 10 to host ‘Nationals.’ District 10 has won ‘Nationals’ 17 times and are current five-time defending champions.

“It would be good if it can finish soon…sometimes when there is Nationals we have to go all the way to West Demerara which is kind of hard for us. It would be nice if can keep in our home town.”

Sharing a reason for Linden’s dominance in athletics, the distance runner noted, “We were born for his and we train really hard so we get success.”

She added, “We want to succeed 100% and if we can train and improve on a track that is not complete when it reaches time for the track that is complete it would be better.”

Eighteen-year-old Sheama Tyrell, who runs the 3000m and 10k, said most grounds in her area have a 300m track and it becomes a difficult switch to the conventional 400m.

“I am very confident we can become even more dominant if we get our resources. We have little and we are doing well; imagine if we had more.”

In June 2019, Minister of Social Cohesion Dr. George Norton received a status update on works being executed on both sites of the Synthetic Tracks Project.

Engineer Patrick Heinen said the Linden aspect of the project is “shaping up nicely,” while there have been some minor glitches occurring at the Berbice site.

He explained that works being executed by Builders Hardware in Linden are on par with the projected timeline of the project.

Heinen estimates that the Region 10 track will be ready for the laying of asphalt materials within the next two months.