WITHOUT knowing it, Leo Rice broke a GIAAC club record that had stood 52 years by claiming a silver medal at the Hampshire County Championships earlier this month.

Rice ran 15.60sec. in the under-20 110m hurdles, an event at which he competes in tomorrow’s MeesPierson Golden Series at Foote’s Lane.

An interested reader of Rice’s achievement in Portsmouth was Robert Langlois, who set the club record in the summer of 1957.

Langlois was keen to congratulate Guernsey’s new hurdles find and has his own valid theory as to why it has taken half-a-century-plus to improve on his mark.

‘I suppose one reason for the longevity of the old record is that the event has been run relatively less often.

‘There haven’t been many enthusiasts for high hurdling in recent years certainly, apart from the Garlands, and there has always been the sheer effort of setting up the event, manhandling the barriers, adjusting them to the right height, etc.

‘The old mark was noteworthy in that it was the very last “yards” time in the club track record lists.

‘Lee Garland’s 16.3 over 110m in June 1993 was included as the best in the metric era, but now all that has been swept away and the track listings finally tidied up.’

Langlois, who still follows local track and field attentively, recalled his equalling of Jim Le Poidevin’s record run of 15.9 in 1957.