Rewarding outstanding athletes’ achievements

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Tomorrow, Saturday 17 December 2005 Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines (TASVG) will host its Annual Awards ceremony as well as bring the curtains down on the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Coaches Education certification System (CECS) level # 1 Course which involved some 19 coaches.
Tomorrow’s ceremony is scheduled for 4.00 pm at the Players’ pavilion at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.
2005 has been another very busy year with TASVG honouring its commitments to the IAAF at the local, regional and international levels.

TASVG joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Athletics Day and hosted its Annual Juvenile Championships, now a permanent feature on its annual calendar. This year also saw the return of significant sponsorship from Franco Construction Ltd., Francis Lau Construction Company with support sponsorship from Nice Radio, ECGC’s Carib Pearl Water, Ferdie’s Footsteps and Beach Front Restaurant and Bar, all of which contributed to an exciting Road race series that saw events spread across the country.
The organisation also participated in the Carifta Games – Tobago, the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Senior Championships – Nassau, Bahamas, World Youth Championships – Marrakesh, Morocco, NACAC Cross Country Championships – Orlando, Florida, USA, Pan American Junior Championships – Windsor, Canada and World Outdoor Championships – Helsinki, Finland.
Teams also participated in several other events such as the National Championships of Barbados and the OECS Half Marathon.

Outstanding athletes
During 2005 there were several outstanding performances by athletes from St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Kineke Alexander made it to the finals of the NCAA 400m as a freshman and lowered her times considerably. Her performances at Iowa left her one of the more outstanding athletes there. She has also been able to maintain good academic achievements.
Pamenos Ballantyne continued to do well on the road at home and abroad. He, however, suffered some defeats at major competitions before returning to winners’ row later in the season.
He began his year with a second place finish in the Trinidad and Tobago Marathon and was unsuccessful in the Inaugural NACAC Cross Country Championships but won the Inaugural Caricom 10K in St Lucia.
Ballantyne lost the Inaugural Franco Construction 10K in North Leeward and also finished second in the NemWil OECS Half Marathon in Antigua and Barbuda. In both instances he lost to Zephrinus Joseph of St Lucia. He was again defeated in the UWI Half Marathon.