Alexander Batiste gets plenty of height in the Year 5 boys’ long jump, in which he placed third. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0605372)
QUITE why Jersey has such an impressive record in the annual junior schools’ athletics match is a mystery. It is rare for the Sarnians to score a win at this level and again Guernsey’s finest junior athletes were given an impressive lesson in quality athletics by a very strong Jersey team in the annual match at Foote’s Lane.
It was the culmination of a successful and demanding six weeks for the team. They were selected from the schools championships at the beginning of June and since then they have improved through events such as the Smokebusters/RG Falla championships, participation in the Fortis race series and weekly training sessions.
But it was still not good enough to beat the visitors, whose best performance came from their nationally ranked 800m runner, Lauren Lowe. She claimed the under-12 girls’ two-lap record by a remarkable 13sec. with a superb time of 2min. 31sec.
Guernsey team manager Alun Williams was proud of his team’s achievements despite the defeat:
‘It was great to see the whole team, without exception, try so hard against such a good Jersey side.
‘It was also pleasing for the youngsters to set so many personal bests, but for the athletics club it is even more important that we use the competition as a stepping stone to turn the youngsters into our star athletes of the future.
‘Over the past 10 years the competition has discovered the likes of Kylie Robilliard, Laura Arblaster, Robin Cowling, Andrew Coleman and Teresa Roberts and we have every expectation that we will discover even more top athletes of the future from this team.’
And despite the overall team result the home squad’s improvements were highlighted in some very impressive individual performances.
Bernadette Benstead ran superbly to win both the Year 5 girls’ sprints and hurdles, while Cameron Hantonne showed guts and determination by winning the Year 5 long jump despite carrying an injury that hampered his running.
Stephanie Sweet won the throwing competition by a clear 10 metres and her final throw of 44m was just outside the match record which has stood for 22 years.
The high jump, as always, was the most exciting of competitions.
Tom Nightingale used his natural ability and agility to win, with ease, the Year 5 high jump, while both Chelsea Torode and Christian Le Ray were unlucky to lose out and come second on countback.
Torode will be particularly pleased to have improved on her personal best by five centimetres.
The distance events saw victories in both Year 5 races.
Katie Rowe and Rebecca Stuart took first and second in the 600m, while Max Robin ran with great determination and came home 20m clear in a record winning time of 1min. 52sec.
The Year 5 boys’ relay team of Robin, Matt Linehan, James Browning and Hantonne won an exciting tussle and their time of 45.1sec. was just outside the event record.
The Year 6 boys also won their race after the Jersey team fell.
Article posted on 15th July, 2008 - 2.29pm
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