Guernsey's golden duo live up to the hype

TWO golds, a silver and three bronzes made for a brilliant evening for the host island in track and field at Foote's Lane. Leading the way were Guernsey's sporting superstars Dale Garland and Kimberley Goodall who both came away with gold and then stood back and watched their good friend, Lee Merrien, have his gold-medal hopes dashed by Gotland's Joakim Daun.

Nobody rises to the occasion more impressively than Guernsey's Commonwealth Games decathlete, who having won the 400m hurdles on Monday was a class apart in the long jump.

With defending champion Nektarios Giallourakis back home and focusing his efforts on coaching a talented blind athlete, Garland's main threat was gone.

Having seen team-mate Adam Page move into an early lead with 6.69 in the first round, the 2001 silver medallist opened with 6.93.

In the second round Garland, whose long jump has disappointed in the opening weeks of the season, stretched out to 7.03 and in the third he produced the jump of his life, 7.30.

It not only guaranteed gold but improved on his own island and all-comers' records.

It came at a cost though.

As he snapped his take-off leg onto the board, he felt a pain in his lower back.

Within minutes he was heading to the physio room for treatment, sensibly dispensing with his final three jumps in a competition already won.

But after a short visit to the physio Garland was soon back on the track underlining his favourite's tag for the 400m flat with a semi-final victory that saw him take the foot off the throttle from more than 100m out and slow to almost a jog in the final few metres.

In the same long jump competition Page snatched bronze on countback after coming into the last round lying fourth and needing to beat the 6.75 of Isle of Man's Phil Riley.

Remarkably, Page matched Riley's best and took the medal by virtue of a superior second-best jump.

Goodall missed the 2001 Games through injury, but in the two years since has emerged as a high-class athlete.

Advertised as someone with a license to thrill, excite she certainly did.

Running blind of her main challengers from lane five, she ran a perfectly judged race to win from Aland's Tove Andersson in 57.71, an excellent time in far from ideal conditions.

'I knew the wind was going to be a problem, so it was more of a tactical race.

'I was a bit worried about being in lane five, without seeing the others, but the people cheering down the back straight were a great help.'

As she left those spectators behind the packed house in the Garenne Stand took over, screaming her on to her first Games gold. There should be more to come, too.

Emma King claimed bronze in a tight women's hammer in which only 1.05m separated first and third and there was another bronze for 1,500m runner Sarah Hume.

Fourth in the Isle of Man, the 17-year-old always looked capable of a medal this time and in snatching third lowered her personal best by six seconds.

There were also personal best runs by Games debutants Tom Druce and Nathan Stevens.

Today is a rest day at the track.