The 1959 British West Indies Championships was the third edition of the track and field competition between British colony nations in the Caribbean. It was held in Georgetown in British Guiana. A total of 27 events were contested, twenty-one by men and six by women. This was the first time that women had been able to compete at the event. Three new men's events were added to the programme: 3000 metres steeplechase, half marathon, and the 3000 metres walk. The latter two were the first road running and racewalking events to be included. [1]
The British West Indies Championships was an annual track and field competition between nations involved in the West Indies Federation and several other Caribbean nations with a British colonial history. Like the federation itself, the competition was short-lived: first held in 1957, it ceased after 1965. The competition was created at a time of much sporting co-operation within the region – a British West Indies team was sent to both the 1959 Pan American Games and the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Track and field is a sport which includes athletic contests established on the skills of running, jumping, and throwing. The name is derived from the sport's typical venue: a stadium with an oval running track enclosing a grass field where the throwing and some of the jumping events take place. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running, and race walking.
Georgetown is a city and the capital of Guyana, located in Region 4, which is also known as the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is the country's largest urban centre. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.'
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For a third time running, George de Peana of British Guiana won both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres titles, remaining undefeated at the tournament. Aside from de Peana, Ralph Gomes was the only other athlete to defend his title from the 1958 edition, doing so in the 1500 metres. [1] George Kerr rose to prominence with a 400 metres and 800 metres double – distances he would win Olympic medals in a year later. [2] In the women's section, the British Guiana team were dominant, being led by double individual sprint medallist Myra Fawcett. [1]
The 5000 metres or 5000-meter run is a common long-distance running event in track and field. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over 12.5 laps of a standard track. The same distance in road running is called a 5K run. The 5000 m has been present on the Olympic programme since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. Prior to 1996, women had competed in an Olympic 3000 metres race since 1984. The 5000 m has been held at each of the World Championships in Athletics in men's competition and since 1995 in women's.
The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-meter run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics and is common at championship level events. The race consists of 25 laps around an Olympic-sized track. It is less commonly held at track and field meetings, due to its duration. The 10,000 metre track race is usually distinguished from its road running counterpart, the 10K run, by its reference to the distance in metres rather than kilometres.
Ralph Gomes is a retired track and field athlete from Guyana. He competed in the middle-distances, and represented his native country at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.
Also among the gold medallists was Antigua's Lester Bird, winner of the long jump here, who would later go on to be the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (succeeding his father, Vere Bird). [3] Triple jump medallist Wendell Mottley also became involved in politics later in his life, serving as Trinidad and Tobago's Finance Minister, and high jumper Anton Norris was another athlete in the field to become a prominent economist in the region. [4] [5] [6]
Sir Lester Bryant Bird, KNH was the second Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda from 1994 to 2004 and a well-known athlete. He was chairman of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) from 1971 to 1983, then became Prime Minister when his father, Sir Vere Bird, the previous Prime Minister, resigned.
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a group are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". This event has a history in the Ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948.
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda is the head of government of that country.
