2019 GUSA Cross Country: The dicey road to glory
Over 130 Athletes from nine Public Universities across the country will be competing for honors in the men and women’s category.
The 24th edition of the GUSA cross country competition, under the patronage of Professor Harrison Kwame Dapaah, Vice-Chancellor of UENR, is expected to draw national coaches, scouts and the media to the University campus to witness the games.
The 10km route for the GUSA cross country has been carefully designed to fit a cross country structure and will surely serve as a site for ‘marveling’ and ‘gaping’.
Universities participating include the University of Ghana (UG), University of Cape Coast (UCC), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Education, Winneba (UEW), University for Development Studies (UDS), University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UNER).
Ahead of the 2019 edition of the GUSA Cross Country 10km race, Univers Sports does a thorough analysis on the possible outcomes and the dynamics of Saturday’s showdown on the UNER campus.
To be fair Team UCC comes to this competition as favorites in the men’s category of the 2019 GUSA cross country event.
The spotlight will be on Malik Abubakar of the University of Cape-coast and the UCC men’s cross country team after winning gold at last year’s edition at the University of Professional studies.
Malik led the line.
The partnership with Nanteri Matthew and other athletes from UDS will be key in accumulating the needed points to augment efforts of 3-time GUSA cross country gold medalist Malik Abubakar who finished last year at 30min: 35sec.
The University of Ghana Team which came second last year also boasts of an array of very composed athletes.
Raja Lagble who finished behind Malik last year won the 2019 UG cross the country last month at a time of 31 min: 12sec and will know he will have to do so much to be able to help the UG Cross country team to dethrone Malik and the tough UCC team.
Tony Asigbey and Enoch Aglo have conducive finishing times in 10km cross country event and will be key in how team UG places.
The likes of Etiam Torgbenu are all big names having featured in the West African University games and could pose the biggest threat to UCC chances of placing first.
The UG cross country team intensified their training modules this year, training at Larteh on the Akuapem Ridge in the Eastern Region.
It is difficult to overlook team UG who are determined to bring back the glory days where the University of Ghana dominated the Cross country competition, winning it six times consecutively from 2009-2014.
In the Women’s category, University of Development studies are tipped to dominate.
The reliable Elizabeth Azure raises the bar for analysis and maybe just why the UDS women’s cross country team may still be in the limelight.
Her impact in the UDS is immeasurable.
Winning the 2018 millennium marathon challenge and having led the UDS women’s cross country team to glory
last year, it will be big surprise to see the University of Development Studies cross country team struggled to replicate last year’s form.
Rita Kyere and Sarah Owu may have set the precedent for a gold finish after their exploits last year.
They placed second behind the UDS women’s cross country team and should the duo feature in the all new UCC women’s cross country team, the team could ride on the second place finished chalked last year and maneuver their way to top glory.
The surprise package in the women’s category of the 2019 cross country competition could be the University of Ghana.
Beatrice Owusua of UG completed the 10km race at 34mins: 09secs, a time that surpasses that of Elizabeth Azure’s 35mins:40secs time she ran last year when the University of Professional Studies hosted.
For the University of Ghana women’s Cross country team, it is likely to be a case of ‘if the likes of Cynthia Anafo, Asher Blasu, Merissa Fortune (who all recorded good finishing times this year) and Grace Obour can finish well enough and keep up the momentum to accumulate big points and do the trick for UG’.
It will surely be a contest that will go down to the wire in both Men and Women’s category in the 2019 GUSA Cross Country competition.
Experience of the athletes in adjusting to such a big terrain will surely count, but training schemes, rest periods and mental toughness may also be key to the fortunes of all participating schools.
We await a beautiful conclusion.
The GUSA competitions since its inception has served as a platform to unearth potential athletes for National Athletics team and a also fish out for athletes who can represent the Ghana Universities Sports Association in other continental and international competitions such as the Federation of African Sports games (FASU
Games) and International University Sports Federation games (FISU Games).
Comments
Post a Comment
leave your comments here......