A new No. 1

Tuesday 26th July 2011, 2:30PM BST.

In the form of his life: Tom Druce beat Dale Garland’s island 400m best in northern Italy.

TOM DRUCE heads to Birmingham and this weekend’s televised Aviva Trials and national championships with realistic hopes of making his first national outdoor final.

Druce goes to the Alexander Stadium lifted by his new island record performance in winning an international 400m race in northern Italy late on Saturday evening.

The time – 46.37sec. – took more than a tenth off the island best set by Dale Garland in May 2007, but the Uxbridge-based athlete is naturally not settling for that and wants to put more distance between himself and his Guernsey team-mate.

He is desperate to reach his first national championships outdoor final, having never previously got beyond the semis.