The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The journey to another IAAF World Championship appearance has begun for 37-year-old Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie.

Following an injury that hampered her progress last year, Ferguson-McKenzie made her return Saturday in her first meet for the year in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Competing for Pure Athletics, Ferguson-McKenzie placed sixth in the first of six heats and finished eighth overall in her specialty in the 200 metres in 23.18 seconds. The race was won by Jamaican sensation Veronica Campbell-Brown in a world-leading time of 22.18 under any conditions.

The wind reading was 2-6, just above the allowable mark of 2.0. The previous best time in the world was by Bahamian Shaunae Miller, also wind-aided in 22.41 in Athens, Georgia, on April 13. Miller, the 19-year-old freshman at the University of Georgia, is listed at No.4 on the world performance list with a legal time of 22.61, posted in Auburn, Alabama, over the weekend.

The best legal mark is 22.31 by Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare in Walnut, California, also posted over the weekend.

“Considering it’s been a year - I ran last year, but not fully - the body felt a little flat, but it’s not a bad opening for me,” Ferguson-McKenzie said in an exclusive interview with Tribune Sports. “I’ll take it. I was pleased. It kind of gave me an idea of where I’m at. It’s not where I want to be, still off, but I just have to stay healthy from this point and keep working hard.”

Since competing at the world’s biggest global track and field meet for the first time in 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden, Ferguson-McKenzie has missed just 2003 in Saint-Denis, France (where she got injured) and 2005 in Helsinki, Finland. If she makes the trip to Russia in August for this year’s championship, it will be her eighth appearance, the longest by any Bahamian.

In that time, Ferguson-McKenzie won a pair of medals in the 200, including a bronze in Berlin, Germany, in 2009 and the gold in Edmonton, Canada, in 2001. She has also ran on the Bahamas women’s 4 x 100 relay teams that captured the silver in 2009 before being elevated to the gold in 1999 in Seville, Spain.

The most decorated sprinter in the country (having won Olympic gold and silver as a member of the 4 x 1 relay teams in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 and Sydney, Australia in 2000 as well as Pan American Games 100 gold and bronze in 1999 in Winnipeg and 2007 in Rio de Janeiro and the same feat at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1998 in Maracaibo and 1993 in Ponce), Ferguson-McKenzie is still the holder of the Bahamas national record at 22.19 and producer of the second fastest 100 time of 10.91 behind veteran Chandra Sturrup (10.84), who turns 42 on September 12.

But Ferguson-McKenzie noted that although there are a number of rising young stars coming up like Miller - the reigning NCAA Indoor 400 champion - and CARIFTA Austin Sealy Most Outstanding Athlete and 2010 World Junior champion, as well as Anthonique Strachan, the 2012 World Jr double sprint champion and two-time CARIFTA Austin Sealy MOA and Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson, just to name a few, they are only motivating her.

“At the end of the day, I know what Debbie is capable of doing and what she’s not capable of doing,” she said. “At the end of the day, I just want to stay healthy and I know my experience will get me through where I need to go. I just need to stay healthy and keep pushing.”

After getting through her season opener, Ferguson-McKenzie said she intends to work towards getting her time down to the 22s.

“It will be nice to see if I can run a PR (personal best). Nothing is impossible,” she said. “I know it’s going to be a tall order, but I just have to take it one meet at a time.”

Currently training in Gainesville, Florida, under coach Lance Brauman of Pure Athletics Incorporated, Ferguson-McKenzie said she continues to enjoy the sport of athletics and that has been the key to her longevity.

“I might be older, but I see it as a number,” she said. “People tend to see what they are limited by. My age doesn’t limit me. At the end of the day, I just love what I do. I may not go as long as (Jamaican born /Slovenian) Merlene Ottey (who at 52 competed at the 2012 European Athletics Championships), but at the end of the day, it’s just my love for the sport and my love for what I do that has kept me going. I like the challenge and just getting the opportunity to do what people say you can’t do.”

One of the things people have been encouraging Ferguson-McKenzie to do is to concentrate on just the 200 and possibly move up to the 400. While the latter is not something she intends to entertain right now, Ferguson-McKenzie said her focus this year will only be on the 200. She will, however, compete on the 4 x 100 relay team which she has been an integral part of all her life.

“On the weekend, they had about six heats and they had kids who were 20, 21 and 22 and I still beat them and I haven’t really ran a full season in about a year,” she said. “So what does that say. That’s good for me and I’m encouraged by it. I will be concentrating on the 200 this year. I will only run the (sprint) double (100 and 200) at the (BAAA) trials (in June).”

This weekend, as the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations will be fielding teams to compete at the Penn Relay Festival in Philadelphia in a bid to qualify for the Worlds in August, Ferguson-McKenzie said she will be watching with interest to see how well they perform.

“I told them earlier that I would have been prepared to run, but I wanted to run earlier at possibly the Florida Relays or another meet before Penn Relays, but they couldn’t find two other countries to compete, so it wouldn’t work,” Ferguson-McKenzie said. “But I don’t think I am fit to go to Penns and run a 4 x 4. I’ve never done it before and I’m not prepared to do it now.

“Hopefully, we will get a chance to compete in some other meet and I can get a chance to run in both the 4 x 1 and the 4 x 4, especially to help the 4 x 4 qualify for the Worlds. I know I will be ready to run the 4 x 1 at the Worlds, but not the 4 x 4. I will just try wherever possible to get a qualification time for the 4 x 4, but not just at Penns.”

With a long season ahead of her, Ferguson-McKenzie said she wants to pace herself so that she can be ready for another healthy appearance at the Worlds.