THE Ansbacher Channel Islands Athletics Club team is aiming to win the Jubilee Plate on Saturday for the second time in three years. Team manager Andrew Winnie shied away from making any big predictions although he singled out the defending plate holders as the club to beat.

‘We will be competitive. It is very difficult to say who will do what because there are some very good clubs going. Herts Phoenix are very strong and will probably be favourites,’ he said.

‘But it is all about who performs on the day.

‘It will help that we have won it before because we were only ranked about third or fourth going in that time so we know anything can happen.

‘We were not anywhere near being favourites but because everybody pulled together and got solid results, we managed to win.

‘So if we fill up all the events and repeat that this time without people finishing last, who knows?’

The CIAC reached Saturday’s event with a battling performance in the semi-final in Eton where they placed third.

Going into the relays, the islanders were in second position, a couple of points ahead of a stunned Cardiff team who then got their big guns out for the relays.

That pushed the CIAC down into third with a points total of 184, eight behind the Welsh club, with Windsor, Slough, Eton and Harrow taking first place with 267.

On that day Dale Garland set a new Guernsey 110m hurdles record and he will be a key figure once again on Saturday along with a host of other Sarnians.

‘It was super semi-final performance and it showed we are probably one of the best clubs that is not in the British League,’ Winnie said.

The CIAC will have to do without some regular team members for various reasons this weekend.

Nathan Stevens is injured so Tom Druce will be running the 400m for the CIAC for the first time, with Lee Merrien doubling up in the 800m and the 1,500m.

Meanwhile, Erica Bodman and Danielle Troke have other commitments which prevent them from competing.

But Winnie is not overly concerned.

‘We have got a couple of absentees but I have never had a full-strength team in all my time in athletics. There are always some injuries or people working and you just have to do your best without them,’ he said.

‘The team is about a 50-50 split between Guernsey and Jersey athletes, which is good, and the team spirit is excellent. Hopefully we will be partying on Saturday night.’