THE first Fortis Golden Series event has been hailed as a great success. A Foote’s Lane crowd of more than 800 witnessed athletics of the highest standard.
The big race of the night saw current UK indoor 60m champion Craig Pickering smash the all-comers’ record in the 100m as he clocked an impressively quick time of 10.4sec.
Guernsey stars Dale Garland and Lee Merrien also set new all-comers’ records in the 400m and the two mile respectively while Bath University’s Emily Bonnett did the same in the women’s 200m.
‘The event was fantastic. It was brilliant and everything that athletics wanted to create,’ said Merrien, who is also the island’s athletics development officer.
‘The atmosphere was similar to what we saw four years ago at the Island Games. The size of the crowd was maybe not as big, but the atmosphere was brilliant.
‘A few of the guys said they enjoyed the meeting and hopefully we can follow it up in the other two meetings.’
Merrien said the series is good preparation for when the Guernsey team go to Rhodes at the end of the month for the Island Games.
‘Some people haven’t competed in the Games so it’s a good opportunity for them to compete in front of big-sized crowd,’ he said.
Guernsey Island Games Association secretary and Fortis employee Roy Martel was given the privilege of presenting the medals at the opening event.
‘I was extremely proud especially to give medals to athletes like Craig Pickering and Dale Garland and all the other athletes,’ he said yesterday.
‘Some of the younger ones put in fantastic performances which bodes well for the future. I think Fortis were absolutely delighted with the event, the atmosphere and the way it was organised by the GIAAC [Guernsey Island Amateur Athletics Club].
‘The athletes were fantastic.
‘The performances of Craig Pickering, Dale Garland and Lee Merrien were worth going down to that alone.’
The second Fortis Golden Series meeting is on Wednesday.
Garland and Merrien will not be taking part but a small contingent of Birchfield Harriers and some long-distance runners from Aldershot, Farnham and District will be present.
Another attraction next week is a group of junior Australian stars on a tour of Europe.
The final meeting in the series takes place on 20 June in which both Garland and Merrien will feature.
‘I don’t know who’s competing [on Wednesday] but if the competition is anything like last night then I recommend people to come down on 6 June and on 20 June to give a resounding send off to the Guernsey Island Games team,’ said Martel.
Article posted on 1st June, 2007 - 12.00am
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