National Circuit Championship final

HOME BASED ATHLETES SET TO THRILL KUMASI FANS AT GAA CIRCUIT CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

The top athletes in Ghana are set to bring Ghana’s 2014 domestic Athletics circuit to a close in the Grand Finale of the National Circuit Championship at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Wednesday, 25th June, 2014.

The success of the maiden competition which first took place at Wa, in the Upper West Region, has been replicated in Sekondi and Koforidua, culminating in the upcoming finale in Kumasi.

This inaugural circuit has been extremely successful, and has helped Ghana-based athletes to improve their personal bests; the most notable records have come in the persons of Vivian Mills, Martha Bissah, Solomon Afful, John O’Brien and Shaukia Iddrisu, all of whom are expected to be Commonwealth Games bound.

The one-day event is slated to last under three hours, as every event will be a straight final pitting Ghana’s top 8 athletes in the event against each other, in the competition for supremacy.

The competition, which is being sponsored by Sea &Shore Services (Gh.) Ltd and Interplast Gh. Ltd, will see awards given to the top three athletes in each event, as reflected by the points amassed over the earlier competitions in the season. Athletes at each of the previous competitions were awarded points based on their final positions.

Only the top 8 point scorers in each event have been invited for the Circuit final as such, it promises to be an action-packed day.

The competition will start at 9.30am and should be completed by noon. In the final, double points will be earned for each position, meaning that the winner of each event will score 20 points, instead of the 10 points the winner earned at previous competitions.

Foreign-based athletes to make a showing: Ghana’s sprint queens to make an appearance in an Invitational 100m race.

The last event of the day will be an Invitational 100m race that outdoors Ghana’s US-based sprint queens: Janet Amponsah, Flings Owusu-Agyapong, Gemma Acheampong, and Doreen Agyei and the fastest Ghana-based female, 2014 African Youth Games silver medallist (Janet Mensah), Kumasi’s own Safia Bright, who has the second fastest 100m time of 2014 in Ghana, Beatrice Gyaman who won 2013’s Ghana’s Fastest Human race, and one other home-based athlete.

This promises to be an explosive race from the exciting blend of young Ghana- and foreign-based stars, with qualification for Commonwealth Games on line.

An additional attraction will be the presence of one of Ghana’s two Commonwealth Games qualified triple jumpers, US-based Nadia Eke, will also compete on a non-scoring basis in the triple jump.

This will be the first time the country’s top athletes will be competing on home soil this year.