Monday, July 13, 2009

Home National Sports Business Lifestyles Religion Arts & Culture Pulse Spice Editorial letters Opinion Foodie Sportscope Real Talks Weekend Report PDF's Classifieds Contact About Us Archive Weather

The Battle of the behemoths By KELSIE JOHNSON ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ kelsie@nasguard.com: The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) National Championships wrapped up on Saturday night, with the event's most anticipated race. Five of the top quarter-milers in the world this year stepped onto the track for the title of Bahamas National Champion, and for the opportunity to represent the country at two upcoming senior meets – the Central American and Caribbean Championships (CAC) and the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Championships. Despite the downpour of rain, a huge crowd remained on hand at the Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium, to see who would prevail in the marquee 400 meters (m) match-up. In the end Chris 'The Fireman' Brown got the best of the field which included Ramon Miller, Andretti Bain, Aaron Cleare, Michael Matthieu, Avard Moncur and Latoy Williams. Brown, who has posted one of the fastest times in the world this year, clocked 45.21 seconds for the win over Miller and Bain who crossed the finish line in times of 45.35 and 46.02 seconds respectively. Cleare came in fourth in 46.34 seconds, followed by Matthieu in 46.37 seconds, and Moncur in 47.52 seconds. Freeport native Williams tripped up at the 300-meter mark and was unable to finish the race. "I would just like to thank the Lord for allowing me to come out here and perform," said Brown. "It was a tough race but I know a lot of fans out here wanted to see me come through so I just pulled it off for them. This season I want to dedicate to my fans, so I wanted to give it to them. It was pretty good (the competition), every year we get deeper and deeper and every year I have to turn it up more and more so the best man was me today and hopefully I can come back next year and we can do it again." Brown admitted that he saw what happened to Williams, who was a lane ahead of him, but remained focus on the goal ahead. Williams has posted the fastest time by any Bahamian in the event this year, which is also the fourth best time in the world, 44.73 seconds. Fellow Grand Bahamian Andrae Williams, who suffered a hamstring injury on Friday, has the second best time by a Bahamian this year, 44.98 seconds, while Brown is third with a season's best of 45.03 seconds. No one would dethrone Brown as national champion though. He said: "Yes I did (saw what happened to Latoy) and it threw me off a little bit. I wasn't expecting it and I feel a little sorry for what happened to him. It threw me off my game but I had to keep my composure and stick with it. This year I haven't been concentrating on time. My coach told me it is better to go for the win rather than time. I ran 44.48 a few times, 44.45 few times and came fourth so this time I am just concentrating on winning," he added. In the women's 400m, favorite Christine Amertil regained her title with a 51.96 seconds performance. Shakeitha Henfield was second in the field in 54.07 seconds, and coming in third was Sasha Rolle in 54.08 seconds while junior Shaune Miller finished fourth in 55.52 seconds. In the women's long jump, Bianca Stuart soared 6.35m for the win, and coming in second was Keythra Richards with a best jump of 5.57m. The men's high jump event was won by Trevor Barry with a clearance of 2.23m, junior Raymond Higgs was second with a best jump of 2.19m, and he was followed by Donald Thomas with a jump of 2.17m. As the reigning World Champion, Thomas has an automatic bid for this year's World Championships though. The IAAF Outdoor World Championships will be held from August 15-23 in Berlin, Germany. Barry said: "I am pleased with the performance and glad that I am able to make the qualifying mark. My season is going pretty well but I have to work on clearing the bar, that is my weak point right now." Monday, June 29, 2009