Third Aliann Pompey Invitational for June 30
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, June 21, 2018
Guyanese will have the opportunity to witness some of the world’s and Guyana’s best talent in track and field at the third Aliann Pompey Invitational on June 30.
The annual event was officially launched this morning at the Sleepin Hotel and Casino, on Church Street.
[left to right] – Director of the Leonora Track and Field Centre, Trevor Williams, Marketing Manager of Quality+ Patrick Britton, Commercial Manager of Fly Jamaica, Carl Bowen, representative of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), host of the event Aliann Pompey, Ministry of Communities’ Public Relations Officer for Green Generation Guyana, Danielle Campbell-Lowe, Banks DIH Marketing Managers, Clive Pellew and Justin Stoby and Rawle Toney.
The meet slated for the Leonora Track and Field Centre will feature 25 countries, close to 100 athletes and 17 track and field events. Some of the athletes slated to participate come from Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, Suriname, Colombia and Bahamas.
Commonwealth gold medalist and Olympian Aliann Pompey expects the meet to be action packed: “The popular event that seems to be the 400m that is going to feature Kirani James the Olympic and world champion as well as Olympic silver medalist from the last Olympic games from Grenada, he will be contesting the event against Guyana’s very own Winston George and I am sure it will be a great race!”
The triple jump event will also be one of the main events as it features Guyana’s Commonwealth Games gold medalist Troy Doris. Other top athletes in that event include Bahamian Olympic Silver Medalist Leevan Sands and 2018 South American Games gold medalist Miguel van Assen from Suriname.
The calibre of athletes, Pompey said, speaks to the growth and direction in which the competition is headed. “I think we are going in the right direction in terms of growth the quality of athletes that we are able to attract, obviously, Kirani being our biggest name so far and I am extremely excited to see what will happen.”
Some of the local talent that will be participating include World U-18 silver medalist Daniel Williams, Olympian Jeremy Bascom and Owen Adonis. Overseas athletes will start arriving in Guyana from Wednesday, June 27.
Sponsors for the event include National Sports Commission, Guyana Olympic Association, E-Networks, Puma, International Association of Athletics Federations, Sleepin Hotel and Casino, Banks DIH, Quality +, Ministry of Communities and Fly Jamaica.
Gates open at 15:00hrs with general admission costing $1,000 and VIP $5,000.
By: Isaiah Braithwaite.
Image: Karime Peters.