By Neto Baptiste
National sprinter Cejhae Greene was impressive over the weekend as he returned to competition following a lengthy layoff due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Antiguan clocked 10.38 seconds at the America Track League event held in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, capturing the 100 meters event.
Greene, speaking with Observer media following the meet, said that given the circumstances he’s had to deal with over the past months, the race was a welcomed success.
“The first race went pretty good so I’ll take it given the circumstances I am not too far off from where I’d normally start because I normally start the season at 10.3 low, or sometimes 10:2, so I will take it given all that we’ve done. In terms of where I could improve, it is really hard to tell so far because it was just my first race but I probably could be a little bit more aggressive at the start of the race, but as I run a few more I guess I will get a little more insight as to where improvements need to go with that,” he said.
Greene, who had said in previous interviews that the ongoing pandemic had severely hampered his ability to make a living, was pleased with the precautions that were put in place at the meet to ensure everyone’s safety.
“The guidelines set by the meet directors didn’t feel weird. We just went out there and competed. The only thing that was a little different was the split in the lanes. We were used to having persons right next to us so you could actually feel the competition, so you have to be really within yourself, but besides that it was quite normal in terms of the preparations for the race, but I will take it for the first showing. I am definitely rusty, I definitely know I need some more races but it’s a positive start that we got through the race healthy and I’ll take it,” the athlete said.
A number of other Caribbean athletes competed in the meet to include Jamaica’s Danniel Thomas-Dodd who was victorious in the women’s shot put with an 18.44 meters effort, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Machel Cedenio, who won the men’s 400 meters in 45.86 seconds.