By Emil Gibba | Gunjur News | Sport: Road to National Championship at Bottrop Technical Senior Secondary School, in Brikama.
After receiving a heroic welcome from the regional champions, the athletes of Gunjur Senior Secondary and Upper Basic Schools are set to compete at the national championship which kicks start on Thursday the 25th of April, 2024 all the way to Sunday the 28th April, 2024 at Bottrop Senior Secondary School.
Reports from the West Coast Regional Inter Schools Athletic Competition conducted in the month of February, 2024 has it that athletes from the coastal community of Gunjur sparked through several excellent performances reigniting the long lost glorious days in the history of athleticism in Gunjur. Out of 36 participating schools, Gunjur Senior came out 8 position and the Junior School landed 7th position out of 26 participating schools.
It is important to note that Gunjur Upper and Senior had been struggling for many years to register qualifiers to the national championship because the two schools were under one administration and thus considered as one school which disadvantageously forced them to compete in the senior schools category, subsequently leading to poor performance for some years now. However, the two schools are now operating from different campuses and under different administrations which means the two schools can now participate separately in both the junior and senior levels enabling them to turn the table and in the process make Gunjur proud of its young rising talents and reigniting memories it holds as far as athletics is concerned.
Gunjur has always hold dear memories in the history of regional and national athleticism in the Gambian with great campaigns that placed it as one time winner of the national championship and probably 6 times winner of the region 2 championship under Abdou Manjang (Nyancha) as the Sport Master at the Upper Basic as recalled by Mr Jarga Surr, a long serving teacher in Gunjur Upper and now with the Senior School who also doubles as a Red Cross Volunteer in Gunjur since 2008/9 to date.
Gunjur can also boast of a list of cross generational athletes that goes beyond Pajero (Ousman Camara) who could be considered as the all time best long distance runner in Gunjur, his younger brother Dodou Camara another great long distance runner who got sponsored from Gunjur to his high school days because of his legs, the sprinting Bolt (Sulay Manneh) of Gunjur, Mero Jatta, Wuday Bojang, and many more. Theirs are a great time to reminisce.
According to reports, Gunjur Senior registered 5 qualifiers for 6 events from the regional championship to the national championship.
Mariama Tembedou, small is the name that best describes her, groomed by Gunjur Upper now a student of Gunjur Senior displayed undefeated performance clinging 1st position in the 3000m event open girls with a timing of 11 minutes 9 seconds as reported by KB Sonko Journalist. She also qualified with 1st position for the 1500m events.
In the same vane, Nfansu Jammeh placed himself in the 2nd position of the 800m U-18 boys event, Ebrima Jammeh proved himself on the 5000m open boys with a 3rd Position while Muhammad Fatty jumped his way to 2nd position in the high jump U-18 boys and Isatou Touray also jumped herself to 2nd position on the high jump girls open event.
Moses Mendy, one rare and confident talent was disqualified for leaving his lane after capturing 1st Position on the 400m race for boys open, an action camp Gunjur cannot understand since Moses’ position was already recorded before being revoked leading to his disqualification per report received from Mr Alieu Boye one of the Sport Masters in Gunjur Senior.
In Gunjur Upper, the following qualifies are confirmed. Falang qualified for the 5000m race, Ba-Ismaila on the 1500m race, Abass Darboe on the High U-15, and Omar Ndong on the Short Put & Triple Jump.
Follow this media as we will update you on the performance of these athletes as they set a new phase to the history of athletics in Gunjur.
Emil Gibba
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