LEE MERRIEN has taken half-a-second off his own island 1,500m record. He clocked 3-45.73 in finishing second in the B race at the latest British Milers’ Club meeting in Solihull and is now up to 20th in the national rankings.

Meanwhile, Channel Islands AC, his first-claim track club, enjoyed their best day yet in three years of Southern League competition with brilliant results across London on Saturday.

While the Garland-inspired men’s team eased to their second straight win in Division Three (East), the women’s biggest squad were pulling out all the stops to take second place behind the big Blackheath and Bromley club in Division One.

Team manager Andrew Winnie hailed the performance as their best yet.

‘We had 21 personal bests, which was unbelievable. They competed well above expectations.’

Winnie said that while victories were few and far between in the five-team match at Bromley, the consistency and strength in depth of the squad took them to within 15 points of the home club and pushed them clear of Havering, Bedford and Basingstoke.

‘The standard is so high at this level.

‘There were three AAA under-20 finalists in Danielle Troke’s race. It unnerved her a little in the warm-up, but she went on to get a PB in the 100 hurdles.’

Troke’s 15.1 was a notable effort, as was Kylie Robilliard’s 11.2, which equalled her 80m hurdles best. She had to beat at her peak because Havering had Chloe van Wulven, her biggest rival in England, breathing down her neck.

At Richmond, the men totally dominated the track races, with only one loss in 18 events.

Dale Garland largely concentrated on the throws ahead of an important decathlon, while brother Lee set a new pole vault personal best among his wins.