‘Enjoy the process’ message ahead of track and field meet
Competition is hotting up in the Guernsey Athletics’ ActiveGsy Track & Field Series which continues tomorrow evening at Footes Lane.
The meeting, which gets under way at 6.15pm, will see several athletes pushing for Island Games spots and a few visitors making an appearance.
Action begins in the field with the triple jump, where Sofia Mella and Holly Drake will continue to push each other.
The biggest entry on the night is in the 200m, with 33 athletes entered across the different age groups.
They include island record holder Abi Galpin, who lines up in what should be a fast race with Josh Allaway, Dale Garland and Gian-Luca Robilliard.
The U13s provide 16 entrants, as they continue to attempt to build up points by bettering their previous times and distances in the Compete Against Yourself series.
An 11 strong discus field includes U20 athlete Tazmin Fayle from the Isle of Man, who last year threw over 38m.
Fresh from setting a new 100m hurdles PB (14.72s) in the previous ActiveGsy meet, Rhiannon Dowinton will be looking to better that mark again as she runs against Vicky Hancock, who will be aiming to duck under 16s having run exactly that last time out.
The 1500m will close the meeting at 7.25pm.
Among the men, Jack Le Tissier and James Priest will likely battle things out at the head of the race.
The field includes V55 Stewart Fountain from the Eastern Masters club, the second of the visiting athletes.
Nix Petit will be aiming to run an Island Games A-standard having already made big strides this season over the distance, knocking more than five seconds off her best from last year.
‘I’m really nervous because I’m chasing the A-standard,’ she said.
‘So each race, it’s just watching the clock and trying to execute it properly, which has proven to be more difficult than in training. Training has been going really well and on paper I should be able to get the time, but I just love running a slow second lap.’
When she was younger, Nix was an 800 and 1500m runner.
She drifted away from the sport when she went to university, but got back into running while out in Australia.
A move into triathlon when she returned to Guernsey followed in 2019, which led to joining the Club for the Tuesday night training sessions when she fell back in love with it.
From there there has been ‘incremental progress’.
‘Each year, I’ve been getting quicker and quicker and still PBing, but there’s still lots of times I want to get as well so the motivation is really high to do that in training.’
She remembers watching the last Island Games to be held in Guernsey in 2003 when she was eight years old.
‘I just remember watching Dale [Garland] coming down that finishing straight and everybody roaring and my mum saying, “isn’t that cool?” I was like, I want to do that one day, I guess that’s always in the back of my mind.’
She already has hit B-standards in the 1500m, 5000m and on the road in the 10km. She is fractions outside the mark in the 800m.
Nix admits that last season was not enjoyable – nerves were a big problem, while she was also hampered by an Achilles issue.
‘So this year, I’m just really trying to enjoy the process,’ she said.
‘I just really enjoy being with everyone on the start line and celebrating everybody’s times at the end.’
Timetable
6.15pm Triple jump
6.15pm 70m hurdles
6.20pm 100m hurdles
6.30pm 1200m (U13)
6.45pm 200m
7pm Discus
7pm 200m (U13)
7.25pm 1500m
Click here for start lists and live results on the day.
