Just as it is said perseverance seldom fails, dedication can determine the destiny of devoted athletes.
Experienced duo Fabian Norgrove and Kion Joseph, who have been competing at almost every local meet this season with mixed fortunes, finally achieved their objective of qualifying Friday night for two major championships.
Norgrove (50.73) and Joseph (50.98) dipped under the required 51 seconds to take the two top positions in the Men’s 400 metres hurdles heats when the ICBL National Athletics Championships began at the National Stadium.
They bring the list of qualifiers for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Colombia, July 20 to August 3 and the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships (NACAC) in Toronto, Canada, August 10-12, to an unofficial count of 19 individual athletes.
The final is slated for Sunday at 5:55 p.m. and Norgrove and Joseph will be looking to stave off the challenge of teenagers, Rasheeme Griffith and Nathan Fergusson, who have already qualified for the July 10-15 World Junior Championships in Finland, as well as Stephen Griffith.
Following last night’s marquee Men’s 100 metres, the 200 metres final at 7 p.m., should be electrifying. United States-based Shane Brathwaite, Burkheart Ellis Ramon Gittens, Mario Burke, Jaquone Hoyte, Jebarri Cumberbatch, quarter-miler Anderson Devonish and Nikolai Gall will clash with locally-based sprinters to vie for a place in the final.
The likes of Joshua Walcott, Nicholas Deshong are also in the mix as well as five sprinters from St Vincent and the Grenadines in OJ Jackson, Yonick Murray, Collin Roache, Javiel Saxon and Aravinda Shallow.
The women’s 200 will also be an exciting encounter with the United States-based quartet Lisa Anne Barrow, Tia-Adana Belle, Asha Cave and Kiera Forde-Richards taking on local girls, Ashlee Lowe and Shemia Odaine.Â
The men’s 800 should also be riveting with the showdown between former gold medallist, Anthonio Mascoll and back-to-back CARIFTA Games champion, Jonathan Jones. Vincentian Akani Slater is also entered.
Another highlight of Sunday’s action will be the long-awaited return from injury of Olympic Games multi-eventer Akela Jones, who is set to compete in the women’s long jump at 5:30 p.m. (EZS)
