From the Commonwealth Games, records and breaking mental barriers, to reigniting childhood fun, Abi’s season has had it all
At the mention of the Commonwealth Games, Abi Galpin’s eyes light up and a smile creeps across her face.
Even now, weeks after the event, the memories and the feelings are still crystal clear.
Competing in front of a vociferous home crowd of 32,000 in Birmingham was an experience like no other.
Her semi-final appearance also capped off a remarkable, record breaking year of sprinting.
Abi lowered the island marks in 60m, 100m, 200m and, pushing herself out of her comfort zone, the 400m.
She then capped it all off with an island record in the long jump.
Birmingham has clearly left an indelible mark.
‘Nothing is ever going to come close to that home crowd, that experience, just the amount of effort, all the volunteers, all the crowd, everything that went into Birmingham was just incredible,’ said Abi.
‘I don’t think that’s ever going to be matched.’
She visited the track at the Alexander Stadium the day before her first heat – that cemented a feeling of excitement that overcame any nerves.
‘I wasn’t on until most of the athletes had competed and everyone was just saying how amazing and crazy that experience was, so I was more excited than nervous because it almost felt surreal,’ she said.
‘It didn’t feel like it was possible. So in my head, I didn’t really panic. I was just like, “oh, this is going to be fun”. I’m glad I reacted like that. You never know how you’re going to react until you’re in the situation. So luckily, I didn’t panic, I just really, really enjoyed it.’
Headwinds in both rounds made it hard to run good times, but her 24.1s in the semi ranked her 20th overall.
Making the semi-final was the target – two withdrawals from her heat meant she knew before the gun went that it was firmly within her grasp.
‘I remember sitting in the call room thinking “I’m going to qualify, I need to run my race, but realistically, I’m going to qualify”.’
That feeling was shared with Welsh athlete Hannah Brier, who Abi knew from other competitions this summer.
‘It was such a good energy, because we just knew that we’ve got another round in here, as long as we execute our race. We’re going to run our race the same as if there was everyone in it, but it was sort of just like, this is going to be the best experience ever. We were loving it.’
As a sprinter, Abi lowering her 100m (from 11.90s to 11.79s) and 200m (from 23.96s to 23.82s) times may have been expected, but the 400m was the biggest shock.
She ran 55.22s at the ActiveGsy Track & Field Series in July, more than a second inside Sophie Porter’s mark from 2018 and the quickest ever by a Channel Islander too.
‘That’s the race that I’m most proud of because I had a massive mental block with 400. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’ve been avoiding it for years. That was the biggest mental barrier of the season. Now I don’t fear 400 like I did before, I’m just really happy to have done that.’
The improvement across the board is indicative of consistency in Abi’s training.
‘I had a few little injuries in the winter, and actually in March, small injuries, but they weren’t serious enough to knock my training too badly. So I think that’s why I managed to keep my speed and progression going. Consistency is such an important thing. If you’re not consistent in your training, then you can’t always expect to be running well.’
It was back in April that Abi turned to her coach Tom Druce and said that she wanted to do the long jump, a discipline she had not competed in since 2019.
‘I just wanted to go in and have a bit of fun. I wasn’t going to put any serious training in, I just wanted to turn up and jump.’
They agreed not to look at it until the main competition part of her season was over.
And that’s how Abi came to be on the runway at the last ActiveGsy meeting.
Her speed clearly had a massive bearing on the result.
‘I was joking that as long as I get on the board it’s going to be good. It was quite scary actually going back into the pit for the first time. In my training session, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I felt quite out of control when I was running at the pit. But it’s really good fun, which is why I wanted to do it. It was a nice goal at the end of the season.’
When she was younger it was one of her favourite events.
‘The feeling of using all your speed and power just to launch yourself is actually really good fun. Sometimes when you get to a high level, your training becomes such a routine, it takes the element of fun away a bit. I still really enjoy sprinting and all my training, but it’s not the same enjoyment that a kid has when they are taking part in the sport. For me, it was going back to that a little bit.’
She leapt out to a new island record of 5.92m.
It may be some time before she dabbles again, but the door is open to switching events after the next Commonwealth Games.
Women’s sprinting in Guernsey is in something of a purple patch, showing the same kind of depth of five years ago.
It bodes well for the Island Games next year.
Eight have now run sub 13 seconds.
‘It’s really exciting to see that come through,’ said Abi.
‘Many of the girls that are at that level are quite young. So there’s definitely more to come from them. So in terms of the Games, we’re going to have strong relay teams, which is always really exciting.’
The 2023 Games are Abi’s big target for next season.
‘I would love to do the 100 and 200m double, then take part in the relays as well. I think it’s going to be special with a home crowd. In Birmingham it was amazing to have such a big crowd cheering for you, but at home it could be your friends, your family, everyone is going to be behind Guernsey in particular, which is going to be a really great experience.’
The last meeting of the Guernsey Athletics’ ActiveGsy Track & Field Series takes place on Sunday 4th September from 12pm at Footes Lane.
Among the highlights are a javelin competition featuring visitor Greg Millar from Birchfield Harriers who has already thrown more than 68 metres this season.
There is also a feature 4x100m women’s relay race.
For full details, visit here.
