http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=161135483Brown, Burns in Penn squad
Kwame Laurence klaurence@trinidadexpress.com
Wednesday, April 25th 2007
Track stars Darrel Brown and Marc Burns will wear Trinidad and Tobago colours at the Penn Relays in Pennsylvania, USA, on the weekend.
Brown and Burns are among five sprinters selected on the T&T squad for Saturday's men's "USA vs the World" 4x100 metres relay. They will be joined in Pennsylvania by Aaron Armstrong, teenager Keston Bledman and Kevon Pierre.
At the 2005 World Championships, in Helsinki, Finland, Pierre, Burns, Jacey Harper and Brown combined for silver in 38.10 seconds-a new national record. Harper was originally selected on the T&T sprint relay squad for the 2007 Penn Relays, but pulled out after sustaining a minor injury.
Bledman, coach Ashwin Creed and manager Dexter Voisin leave for the Penn Relays tomorrow. Jamaica-based Brown, and US-based Burns, Armstrong and Pierre are also expected in Pennsylvania tomorrow.
Voisin, the manager of the T&T team for the 2007 World Champion-ships in Osaka, Japan, told the Express the main goal at Penn Relays is achieving the 39.00 seconds World Champion-ship qualifying standard.
"This is the first time they're competing together for the year. We want to get the guys together and get a qualifying time. There are other athletes, like Richard Thompson and Marcus Duncan, who are not available because of school commitments, but that gives Bledman the opportunity to secure a spot. We'll be mixing the team during the season, based on availability. We're hoping for a pool of eight to choose from for Japan."
T&T have already qualified for the World Championship men's 4x400m event. At the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, in Colombia, last year, T&T earned mile relay silver in three minutes, 02.65 seconds, 65-hundredths of a second faster than the 3:03.30 qualifying standard.