Ghana Armed Forces’ sprinter Mary Boakye won the women’s 100m final with a personal best of 11.75s (PB)(- 0. 1m/s) in what was the blue riband event at the Ghana Athletics Association’s 2nd National Open Championships at the Cape Coast stadium last Saturday.
Mary took off from the starting blocks like a rocket and never looked back as she shaved off .02s from her previous personal best of 11.77s. 
She was followed in second place by University of Education Winneba’s (UEW) Gifty Kwakyewaa Oku who also crossed the finish line in a lifetime best 12.05(PB) to eclipse her previous best 12. 13s.
Experienced sprinter Janet Mensah, who won silver at the 2014 African Youth Games, of Sagnation, stopped the clock at 12.13s to take third place.
Mary Boakye’s feat brought memories of past heroics by other home-based athletes at the GAA’s Circuit and Open Championships. Hor Halutie holds the fastest 100m electronic time run by a home-based athlete in Ghana of 11.47s which was set at the 2018 GAA Circuit Championships. Beatrice Gyaman had held the fastest 100m electronic time of 11.55 seconds by a locally based athlete, a feat she recorded at the Soga Nana Memorial meet in 2016.
Meanwhile, experienced sprinter John Osei Kofi and Wallace Afflamah brought the Cape Coast stadium to its feet in the men’s 200m final where first and second place winners were separated by .01s. The Ghana Armed Forces’ Osei Kofi had to dig deep into his reserves to fend off competition from his rival, eventually winning in a time of 21.35s while Afflamah settled for second in 21.36s. Kwame Nkrumah University and Technology’s (KNUST) Enoch Fosuhene came third in 21.51s.
The fast-rising sprinter Ibrahim Fuseini, of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, won the men’s 100m final, crossing the finish line in a time of 10.61s (-1.5 m/s) ahead of the University of Ghana’s Saminu Abdul Rashid who finished with 10.67 while Barnabas Asante Aggeh of the University for Development Studies finished with 10.68s.
