TOM DRUCE has made it a hat-trick of 800m golds.
The 22-year-old won the event at both Shetland in 2005 and at Rhodes two years ago.
He picked up his third last night with a comfortable win at the Wiklof Holding Arena.
‘I’m ecstatic and pretty tired – I’m a 400m sprinter,’ he said.
Druce (pictured) ran a perfect race.
The Bath-based athlete was content to sit on the shoulder of Joseph Wade until the final 200m, when he kicked.
The big Arsenal fan went past the Isle of Wight runner with 150m to go and even had the luxury of slowing up on the line to execute a Robin van Persie-style shoulder flick to go into his trademark single arm salute to the crowd in celebration.
Had he not bothered doing all this he might have broken his personal best time of 1min. 51.95sec. as he crossed the line in 1-52.04. ‘If I hadn’t done that rubbish celebration I could have beaten it,’ he said.
‘I have been training for 400m exclusively so to do that time was especially pleasing.’
Druce now has his sights on the 400m and Guernsey Olympian Dale Garland’s record of 46.70.
‘The 400 is what I’m here for and hopefully I’ll get the gold in that as well,’ he said.
‘I’m going for Dale’s record.’
Druce was not the only Guernsey winner on the track yesterday.
Glenn Etherington got the Greens under way with gold in the men’s 110m hurdles.
‘I feel proud and very, very happy,’ he said.
‘It’s fantastic and it’s an absolute honour to represent Guernsey at my first Island Games. The support has been amazing, the coaching has been brilliant.’
More than 50 Guernsey supporters, who made the most noise in the stands all evening, cheered the 22-year-old on.
Originally from Exeter, Etherington arrived in the island just over a year ago.
He has competed in the British League and he used to train with Garland at Bath and he encouraged him to move with his work, HSBC, to Guernsey.
‘It’s a real family community,’ Etherington said about his new home.
‘It’s the best move I’ve ever made. I want to stay here as long as I can.’
Etherington ran a smooth and fluid race to finish a good stretch ahead of second-placed Peter Irving of Jersey.
Saaremaa’s Madis Kallas came third while 2007 champion Erik Larsson, was fifth, ahead of Guernsey’s Leo Rice in sixth.
Etherington ran a time of 15.13, which he was more than happy with.
‘Into a massive head wind, I’m very pleased,’ he said.
‘I saw some of the times that the guys have got and I knew that I was in form [so I was confident]. I was running sprint personal bests, so I knew that I was quick.
‘I knew that as soon as I heard that gun that I had to run as fast as I could.’
Guernsey’s third gold of the evening belonged to another hurdler, Kylie Robilliard.
The 21-year-old Loughborough student won the 100m hurdles by a country mile to go with her silver in the 100m on Monday.
The Sarnian crossed the line in a Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 14.48. Second-placed Julia Kallgren, of Aland, ran 16.07.
‘It feels amazing and I’m so excited,’ said Robilliard.
‘To have such a big crowd was amazing.’
The talented Robilliard went into the race as favourite. But she took nothing for granted.
‘On paper, I had more good times. but you never know what can happen on the day,’ she said.
‘People can have personal bests, the wind can be a major factor and I could have tripped over a hurdle. Hurdles can be very temperamental.’Day three in Aland: Three golds on the track, including hurdles double
Article posted on 1st July, 2009 - 2.29pm
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