This Is Guernsey

By Gareth Le Prevost

GUERNSEY’S awesome foursome capped an amazing meet in the pool by claiming the final swimming gold medal of the 2009 Island Games.

Following their astonishing heroics in the 4×100m medley final, the Sarnian quartet of Ian Hubert, Jonathon Le Noury, Ben Lowndes and Jeremy Osborne led from start to finish in a dominant record-breaking display in the freestyle relay over the same distance.

The Faroes, with the incredible Pal Joensen on the final leg, were regarded by many as favourites, but they were left in Guernsey’s wake.

Hubert gave his team the ideal start, with a 52.06 opening leg, which opened up a 0.62sec. gap on the rest of the field.

Le Noury extended it further before Lowndes continued his remarkable gala by giving Osborne a three-second lead as the big man took over for the final leg.

There was no way Joensen was ever going to pull that back and when Osborne stopped the clock at 3-24.87, it slashed four seconds off the previous Games best.

‘It’s a massive help to have the three guys ahead of me put in that performance. It takes so much pressure off,’ Osborne said.

‘We knew that they [the Faroes] were going to be strong, so this is just a great way to end this meet.

‘This is probably going to enhance our celebrations tonight.’

Hubert said the team members were confident that they could do it and when informed of his split, he added with a wry grin: ‘Job done, eh?’

Lowndes, who has not stopped smiling for four days solid, admitted that the two-and-a-half-seconds margin of victory was larger than they imagined it would be.

‘We thought it would be tighter than that. We knew it was going to be a tough race.’

Le Noury added: ‘It is always good to beat the Faroes, and a four-second Games record – you cannot complain with that.’

Team manager Alison Frankland revealed the simple message she had given her quartet.

‘We just said: “Let’s go out on a high”.’

Although that was Guernsey’s solitary gold in an evening dominated by the Faroes, the biggest Sarnian cheer came from the Parfit sisters, Lotte and Victoria, who screamed the house down when their teammate, Lauren Judge, won the touch for bronze in the 4×100m medley relay.

Lotte had swum the opening backstroke leg and Victoria the following breaststroke before turning into cheerleaders as Robyn Le Friec and Judge brought the team home in 4-32.23.

There was also a third-place finish in the gala-concluding 8×50m freestyle relay, which is raced for prizes rather than medals.

In the earlier individual events, Le Noury smashed the island record in claiming bronze in the 400m freestyle.

In a race won by Joensen, who in the heats had annihilated the Games record by 15 seconds, JJ Gallichan became the first Channel Islander to go under four minutes as he claimed silver, while Le Noury was the first Guernseyman under that magical barrier, clocking 3-55.88.

‘Credit to the Jersey guy and Pal. It was always going to be a good race and it is just great to have him [Joensen] to pull us along. I am just so pleased to go sub 4min.,’ said Le Noury.

Frankland later added: ‘Jonathon had said to Pal that he wanted to go under four minutes and Pal said: “Stick with me then”.’

Le Friec, another who enjoyed an excellent meet, also took bronze in the 200m butterfly in 2-22.90.

Typically, Lowndes got in on the act with a surprise bronze in the 100m backstroke out in lane eight.

‘I did not expect that,’ he said. ‘I only just about qualified after I tried to play it safe and almost played it too safe in the heats, but in the warm-up I was feeling really loose and good.’

Overall, Guernsey claimed 24 medals over the four days of competition in the Alands Idrottscenter pool, seven of them gold, four silver and 13 bronze.

‘Somebody said to me “Is this your best Games?”. They have all been good and we have won more medals before, but the competition here has been really exceptional and it has pulled everyone on. That is why there have been so many records,’ Frankland said.

‘I am very happy with the Guernsey team in both how they performed and the way they supported each other.

‘We have had so many lifetime bests and if a swimmer gets out of the water with a lifetime best, they are usually very happy.

‘We have had a great team spirit, a wonderful time in Aland and we have done Guernsey proud,’ she added.Day five in Aland: Swimmers end spectacular meet with another gold in final medal event

Article posted on 3rd July, 2009 - 2.29pm