Leo Rice storms to victory in the under-20 400m final, winning by two seconds. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0599317)

GUERNSEY’S young track and field stars raised their game and pulled off some excellent performances as they competed against 600 of the best Hampshire athletes at this year’s county championships.

Linda Parrack, team manager, was pleased with the performance of the Guernsey team.

‘The focus of the team was on youth so we were very pleased to come home with seven golds, eight silvers and nine bronzes,’ she said.

‘We were competing against strong squads from Team Southampton, Aldershot and the City of Portsmouth and it was a great experience for our youngsters to be up against such a quality field.’

Dale Garland, the newly appointed GIAAC development officer, will have enjoyed some of the successes in the track events and, in particular, the hurdles.

He set a fine example by smashing the championship record in the 400m hurdles in a time of 51sec. and will have enjoyed seeing his training partner Glenn Etherington winning the 110m hurdles by a clear half a second.