Baboolal: Relay men made country proud

The TT quartet of Kevon Pierre, Marc Burns, Jacey Harper and Darrel Brown established a new national record when they clocked 38.10 seconds to capture the silver medal in the 4x100 metres relay final on Saturday last.

Allan Baboolal, Secretary of the NAAA, described the team’s performance as "okay but could have done better."

"Although, winning the gold medal in the relay would have been a very big achievement by the athletes, we are still very happy with their performances. While everyone would have rejoiced had the team pulled off a sensational victory, officials of the National Amateur Athletics Association (NAAA) are still happy and proud of their achievement.

Baboolal said, "From what I gathered from the officials (at Helsinki) with whom I spoke, they felt had the exchange between Harper and Brown been better, we would have won the gold.

"But we are proud of the boys. Silver medal at these Championships is a big achievement by the team and an honour for the country."

TT beat Great Britain, the Athens Olympics gold medal winning team, into third position.

"The 4x400 relay team also did well in the semi-finals, but somehow did not do as well in the final. But it shows that they can develop into a very good team for future Games," stressed Baboolal.

Anchorman Brown raced down France’s Lueyi Dovy to the finish line but was pipped by two-hundredths of a second for the coveted gold medal in what was described as the closest finish ever in the sprint relay final of a global championships.

After a fairly decent first leg by Pierre, in lane three, whose exchange with Burns was efficient and allowed the national sprint champion and 100 metres finalist to reduce the considerable lead established by France and Great Britain in lanes four and six.

The third leg exchange between Burns and Harper was also smooth but Brown was caught moving out slowly as Harper was motoring at top speed through the 20-metre exchange zone.