A rare treat rewrites the record books
The rarely run 600m served up a feast of records at a sun-soaked Footes Lane yesterday.
As part of an early afternoon full of entertaining competition in the Guernsey Athletics’ ActiveGsy Track & Field Series, Kate Bain claimed the women’s and U20 marks as she ran 1:34.73 while Darcey Hodgson was closing fast in taking the U17 and U15 records in 1:37.38.
Hodgson’s time leads the UK’s U15s rankings.
Elsewhere, there were compelling match-ups across the disciplines.
The event opened out in the field with the javelin, where James Bougourd threw five attempts beyond the 50m mark, including a season’s best 53.83m in the fifth round.
It has been a couple of years since Rebeca Le Tissier was last in competitive action, but she returned with an instant impact as a second round effort of 31.4 passed the Island Games B-standard.
It was a busy afternoon for former decathlete Dale Garland who was in action in the javelin, 200m and high jump, the 41-year-old securing a B-standard in that event by clearing 1.80m at the third attempt.
Two head to head battles unfolded within the 1500m.
Nix Petit was tracked closely by Emma Etheredge until securing the leading women’s spot with a strong finish down the home straight and with it a new PB of 4:47.73, agonisingly close to the Island Games A-standard of 4:47.00.
At the front of the race, Chris Gillman overturned a significant margin in the final 200m to pass Toby Mann as the finish line beckoned, stopping the clock in 4:27.46.
Lucas Rive took a sprint double over 100m and 200m.
He survived a messy start in the 100m to clock his second fastest time of the year, 11.06s, to win from Ben Stevens, whose 11.63s was a seasons best.
Rive stormed to 22.59s in a wind-assisted 200m, his first run over the distance this year and his fastest ever.
He was followed home by 800m specialist Chris Bain in 23.31s with Stevens third in 23.46s.
The female sprints also served up some new personal bests with mere fractions separating the bulk of the field in the 100m.
While Hannah Lesbirel was clear in the lead (12.59s), the race to fill the podium spots was fierce.
U15 Edie Dorrian secured second in a new PB of 12.82s, Rhiannon Dowinton was third in 12.86s, with U17 Isabelle Lowe fourth, also with a new best of 12.87s.
It was double PB delight for Lowe, winning the 200m in 26.11s from Amelia Hart (26.33s) and Dorrian (26.79s).
U13 and U15 athletes continued their competition to compile the most points in the Compete Against Yourself Series.
There is a short break in track and field action while work takes place on the track ahead of next year’s Island Games.
The ActiveGsy series returns on Sunday 21 August and the final meeting is on Sunday 4 September.
For full results click here.
For more race videos, head to the AthleticsGuernsey Youtube channel here.
