Though there is still uncertainty on how the team for 2021 CARIFTA Track and Field Championships will be selected, the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) is still planning ahead.
The ultimate hope is when they host the championships in 2022, Guyana could field a maximum team of 60 athletes to be a fully competitive force at home.
As of now, the 49th edition of the CARIFTA Games will be held next year in Bermuda, the same country that was scheduled to host the marque youth track and field meet, during the Easter weekend before the pandemic struck this year.
Guyana continues its battle with the virus and there is no definitive timeline with regards to the resumption of competitive and recreational sport.
Despite no clear-cut plan on how the 2021 team will be selected as yet, AAG President Aubrey Hutson has eyes on the more distant future to ensure Guyana can field their best and strongest possible team when they host the 50th edition in 2022.
“It is our intention to go with the maximum number of athletes and have two athletes in every event and be a real competitive force; we know some athletes will do multiple events,” Hutson told News Room Sport.
Based on the numbers from 1990, Jamaica has totally dominated the event by having an overall medal haul triple the amount of closest challenger, Trinidad and Tobago, and four times the amount of gold medals than any other country.
In 2017, Compton Caesar raced into the history books when he became the first male athlete from Guyana to win a CARIFTA Games Under-20 Boys’ 100 metre gold medal, which broke the usual sprint dominance by the Jamaicans.
“We know Jamaica has had a long history of winning these championships because of the quality and number of athletes they walk with, but it is our intention with the work that we have been doing we give them a challenge; so we are looking to get 60 athletes out there.”
In 2019, 21 athletes, a record number attending the championships for Guyana, produced a record haul of ten medals – four gold, two silver and four bronze – which placed them fourth on the overall standings.
Jamaica (85 medals), The Bahamas (26 medals) and Trinidad and Tobago (24 medals) were the top performers.
