TRUE, his moans and groans gave us a good back page story and having been acrimoniously overlooked for the 2006 Commonwealths, the man has history of pouring out his disappointment.

But Tom Druce should not be seen as a Moaning Minnie and deserves some moral support in what has been a bad couple of weeks for the double Island Games champion over one and two laps on the track.

Druce’s treatment at last weekend’s Aviva Grand Prix was pretty appalling and puts the sport in a poor light.

In promoting a non-championship athletics meeting there is nothing wrong with a degree of stage management. I have done it myself in overseeing the local Golden Series at Foote’s Lane.

If Dale wants lane three, he gets lane three.

If Lee Merrien wants a pacemaker, ‘Mez’ gets one. No questions.

After all, the idea of such events is, largely, to entertain the public and show the sport in its best light.

Handicapping your best athletes is not beneficial when you want your stars to rip up records and give the paying customer something to be impressed by.

But, dare I say it, the organisers of last week’s all-UK 400m race at the NIA in Birmingham, took stage management too far and treated our Tom, and our Dale also, none too well. In fact, in the case of the former, pretty shabbily.

Running a circuit on an inside lane indoors is not conducive to good times.

Druce arrived at the NIA arena as the fastest man in the field this year, but found himself not drawn in lane one, but dumped there as rivals for a place in the GB 4 x 400m relay squad for the world championships in Doha next month were seemingly given preferential treatment.

In modern times, it has become increasingly common practice for top athletes drawn outdoors in lane one to withdraw from races over 200 or 400m, but the lane is even more of a curse indoors.

The corners are extra tight, you have to reduce speed on the bends and you cannot use the elevated bends to your advantage. You have one whole circuit in it and at its end you invariably have higher-stationed runners coming down off the slopes to cut your stride up.

Druce had every reason to be aggrieved, especially as one of his clearly inferior opponents, who was to finish last, was given the much more agreeable lane six and possibly did not even want to be there.

Again, if Druce is right and that Nick Leavey’s coach also had an influence on the lane selection, then that is pretty shabby on their part.

No wonder the Guernseyman, who has made great strides in recent times, took it so hard when he missed out on selection and a proven slower runner was chosen for Doha.

Running fast requires self-confidence and Druce will have been set back by this treatment. He’s angry and I don’t blame him.

But he will be back and as long as he’s fit he will surely be on the big stage in Delhi this October alongside, I expect, the biggest group of track and field stars Guernsey has sent to a Commonwealth Games.

In discussing the Druce case this week it was pointed out to me that he is one of nine or 10 local runners currently capable of running sub two minutes for 800m and, in a ‘paper’ race, make an Island Games 800m final with that level of performance.

Isn’t that incredible?

Druce, of course, heads that list which also contains both Garland brothers, Lee Merrien, Matt Bailey, Tim Coates, Matt Loveridge, Michael Batiste and Will Bodkin.

The 400m situation is similarly impressive and the long-distance scene headed by Merrien is not only rich but has the potential to develop further.