DALE GARLAND saw only one other runner as he stormed to 400m gold last night. Two days earlier his Guernsey teammate Tom Druce said that since the Commonwealth Games star had declared he would be sticking to the flat rather than hurdles at the Kalipatira track in Rhodes, everyone else was fighting for second.

Druce, who claimed bronze, was spot on.

The thoroughly professional and focused Garland was far too strong for the rest of the field as he strode purposefully around the lap in lane seven after a second start was required with Druce preceding the gun on the first attempt.

In winning gold, the champion also smashed his own Island Games record which he had set on his home Foote’s Lane track four years ago, clocking 46.70, an improvement of 1.09sec.

‘I am very happy,’ said Garland.

‘With this wind I did not really expect it to be quick and after 150m I did not see anyone else so that makes it more difficult to judge.’

The race going on behind Garland in the final saw Gotland’s former champion, Mattias Sunneborn, beat Druce to the silver medal.

The Scandinavian clocked 48.09 compared to Druce’s 48.29.

The Guernseyman revealed that his false start had been an attempt to employ a cunning plan.

‘If I am honest, I know my reaction time is fairly good so I knew if I got off to a flyer I could perhaps have a couple of tenths on the others. So it was a bit of a ploy really,’ Druce said.

‘Obviously, I had Dale two lanes outside me and I wanted to use him as much as I could but unfortunately I did not have the gears. I just did not have it in me today – I actually felt much better in my heat.’

In the next final on track, there was an impressive medal-winning return to Island Games action for Helen Watts.

Having been Guernsey’s golden girl of the pool for so long, she is certainly finding her feet on the track and claimed a bronze in the 800m with a new personal best of 2-15.21.

Ahead of her, Eilidh Mackenzie pulled off something of a shock in beating defending champion Claire Wilson in a thrilling sprint finish.

The Western Isles athlete flew down the final straight to beat Wilson and her Island Games record in 2-11.91. Watts was well clear of the rest of the field.

‘I enjoyed that. I was really up for it,’ said the 31-year-old.

‘I felt mentally and physically really well, which does not always mean things will turn out well but on this occasion it was a good omen.’

Watts added that the plan had been just to give it her best shot.

‘Conditions were all right. It was a bit windy at the top bend but I was as tucked in as I could be and it was the last thing on my mind.

‘It all went pretty much as I had hoped for,’ she said.

In the same race, Martine Scholes was seventh in 2-22.84.

The other Guernsey medal was an excellent silver for Louise Perrio.

The 24-year-old put in a typically solid run and kept Jersey’s Jo Gorrod company at the front for a while before the Caesearean opened a gap.

Having pulled far away from the rest of the field already, Perrio just had to keep it together for second and that is exactly what she did, clocking 38-03.08. Alderney’s Nikki Neal was sixth in 40-06.90.

There was a terribly unfortunate result for Kimberley Gleeson in the women’s long jump as her best effort of 5.60m was the same as bronze medallist Maria Pinni.

In an extremely tight competition, the Guernsey girl lost on countback, despite her next best being 5.57m.