Alexander Batiste gets plenty of height in the Year 5 boys’ long jump, in which he placed third. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0605372)

QUITE why Jersey has such an impressive record in the annual junior schools’ athletics match is a mystery. It is rare for the Sarnians to score a win at this level and again Guernsey’s finest junior athletes were given an impressive lesson in quality athletics by a very strong Jersey team in the annual  match at Foote’s Lane.

It was the culmination of a successful and demanding six weeks for the team.  They were selected from the schools championships at the beginning of June and since then they have improved through events such as the Smokebusters/RG Falla championships, participation in the Fortis race series and weekly training sessions.

But it was still not good enough to beat the visitors, whose best performance came from their nationally ranked 800m runner, Lauren Lowe. She claimed the under-12 girls’ two-lap record by a remarkable 13sec. with a superb time of 2min. 31sec.