DALE GARLAND leapt straight to the top of the national 400m hurdles rankings at the start of a season in which he hopes to claim a place in the British team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Representing Birchfield Harriers in the BAL Premiership match at the Copthall Stadium in Hendon, the Guernseyman blasted clear to win from the awkward lane one in 51.3sec.
‘It was my first race of the season and I was not happy with the inside. I normally try to fit in 13 strides but went to 14 and then 15, but I’m quite good on both legs,’ said the 26-year-old.
‘I was pleased considering the conditions,’ added the GIAAC elite performance director, who was back on the track an hour later to run the 400 flat, again in the black of Birchfield, who finished the match in third place behind winners City of Manchester and runners-up Woodford Green.
This time out in late eight, he clocked an encouraging 46.8 for second place but in the same time as the winner.
‘I went out too slowly in the first 200 really. I reacted too slow.’
However, the time was close to his island record 46.68 set at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the hurdles time was within eight-tenths of a second from his 2006 best of 50.47.
There was not such good news for GIAAC’s Island Games 800m champion Tom Druce, who plans to concentrate on one-lap races this summer.
He was forced to withdraw from the British Universities’ Champ-ionships with a damaged hamstring which will also rule him out of this weekend’s Hampshire track and field championships in Portsmouth.
GIAAC take a large team to the annual two-day event at the Mountbatten Stadium, including many of their Island Games squad.
Garland will be with them at Portsmouth in his capacity as a coach, preferring to save himself for the UK’s top events.
Article posted on 9th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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