Galpin burns through to set the standard
LEGS and lungs burning, a shocked Abi Galpin lowered her island 200m record last night and with it secured a Commonwealth Games standard.
Her performance was one of a string of personal bests as the Guernsey Athletics’ record books were adjusted once again in a meeting that was live streamed on ActiveGsy.com.
‘I’m shocked by 24 dead, I really was not expecting that at all,’ she said.
‘I would have been so happy with 24.2, or anything within the standard. I wasn’t putting myself under too much pressure to get the standard this time around because it’s a bit colder than it has been for the last few days and the wind was pretty low as well, so to get the standard in less than ideal conditions is pretty amazing.’
Her time puts her 32nd in the UK.
Galpin has remained injury free in recent weeks with training going well.
‘Mentally I like to chill pretty much all day as much as I can,’ she said of her pre-race preparation.
‘I loosened my legs up a bit this morning and then just chilled, had a nap and then I was ready to go. I just try to get myself in a good mental zone because I think if you go into a race not wanting a good time or not ready for it then it’s not going to happen.’
She was a calm figure on the start line yesterday.
‘I try to clear my mind completely and not think of anything. I know my body will make the movements, it will do the race as it’s meant to be carried out so I just try to relax and not overthink it.’
She travels to England on Tuesday to compete in the 200m at Lee Valley and will also take part in the Welsh Championships over the same distance in August.
‘It’s really exciting, I’m ready to go and race some new people and challenge myself against the best girls we’ve got in England at the moment. Then in a few weeks time I’m going to the Welsh champs as well.’
That will be held in Cardiff where she will also compete over 200m.
‘Even though 200m is my main event and is my better event, I really hate running it sometimes, just because it’s so painful in the last 50. You have to keep the speed going as much as you can and your legs are just burning, your lungs are burning, it can be a really painful race and afterwards you just feel awful. Whereas the 100, it’s harder to get right because there’s so little margin for error but, when you do get it right, it just feels amazing. I do prefer the 100 in some sense, but also, when I’ve done a really good 200 race it just feels so great.’
In the 3000m, Will Bodkin shrugged off any tired legs from last week’s All Terrain Challenge to win in 8:34.69, placing him third on the all time list, while Alex Rowe returned from injury to take second in 8:40.26, just over one second outside his dad Alan’s best. James Priest ran 9:07.19 to also get a place among the island’s fastest.
Three women also made it onto the all-time rankings.
Nicolle Petit’s 10:58.74 placing her 10th, Rosie William’s 11:07.49 sees her in 13th and U15 Talia Godet’s 11:53.46 puts her 19th on the list.
There were a string of close battles in the 3000m.
Just two seconds separated Ben Foote and Toby Mann in fifth and sixth, both had also competed in the ATC.
‘I’ve been very heavy in the legs and very tired all week, but I’ve never done a 3000 before, so for me it was just about going out running and enjoying it,’ said Foote.
‘Equally, I’ve come out of the ATC before and run really well, just because you’ve got miles in your legs and you are used to racing every day even when you are tired. I don’t think there was any pressure on today, I just thought it’s a bit of fun, relax, run a 3000, and however fast or slow it’s going to be a PB.’
The pair have been closely matched over different distances, a fun, motivating rivalry.
Neither were runners when they were younger.
Mann’s running started as a general de-stressor a few years ago when he was living in Bristol.
‘I used to go out and run at one pace, as hard as I could for about 10 minutes.’
An ex-girlfriend was training for a marathon.
‘It was just crazy for me that she would go out and run for a couple of hours. I went out with her and ran for 40 minutes, I remember the feeling afterwards of “wow”. Then I got the bug, did a half marathon and a marathon shortly afterwards.’
Then he moved back to Guernsey and started running with the club, which has led to challenging himself over some shorter distances too.
Foote never ran at school, but his uncle Alun Williams encouraged him to do some cross-country.
‘I thought it’s not so bad, I can slowly tootle along at the back,’ he said.
‘I slowly got better after a few more races and got involved in a little social running group at work which went out a couple of lunchtimes a week and I thought I actually quite enjoy this now, I never used to. They encouraged me to start club training. I come down mostly on a Tuesday night, do some track sessions. You learn how to train, whereas previously I’d just go out at the same sort of pace. Training you learn how to warm up, which is one thing, that’s massive. It’s good running at different paces and also running as a group where you can feed off one another.’
Young visitor Daniel Wood from Birchfield Harriers made the most of his trip to the island yesterday, recording a new pb of 26.55 in the U13 200m and later going on to clock 1:43.42 in winning the 600m, also a new best.
For full results visit here and for more pictures here.
To find out more about Guernsey Athletics and what’s coming up, head to their website .
