On your marks...

WHAT a great day. It was estimated that more than 1,500 spectators were at Foote's Lane yesterday to watch the inaugural Blue Islands British Challenge Cup. The action took place in fantastic sunshine, with only a stiff breeze blowing across the ground causing any problems.

Top British clubs Woodford Green with Essex Ladies and Birchfield Harriers battled it out with the Guernsey select side.

Woodford Green took the honours when they finished the day on 77 points. Twenty island all-comers records were broken during the meeting.

Undoubtedly the star of the show was Woodford Green's Jeanette Kwayke, who set two new records in the Cobo Bay Hotel 100m and the Barras Car Centre 200m.

'It's been fabulous,' said the 23-year-old sprinter from east London.

'It's my first time to the Channel Islands and the crowd has been fantastic. I hope to come back, if not for athletics then for a holiday.'

Kwayke is not the only member of her family quick over the ground.

Her younger brother, Louis, won the Healthspan 200m and came second in the Cobo Bay Hotel 100m. The Woodford Green sprinter only took up athletics five-and-a-half months ago.

'My little brother has been fabulous,' said the older Kwayke.

'My best friend and I saw him running for a bus one day and we got him to take up athletics.'

Kylie Robilliard also featured in the women's 100m alongside Kwayke. The 18-year-old set a personal best time of 12.16sec. to come fourth.

But in her main event, the Healthspan 100m hurdles, she had to make do with third place behind top British hurdlers Julie Pratt and Nusrat Ceesay. Winner Pratt set a new all-comers' record of 13.55.

Robilliard had been in second place, but gave way to Ceesay in the final third.

'It was very close between us,' said Robilliard.

'I had a flying start. I was ahead at the start and I was going well until the sixth hurdle but I went over it too high and I put myself out of rhythm for the rest of the race.

'I was slowly catching up with her but she pipped me at the line.

'I was pleased with that. It's nice to have home support and they were really cheering me on. It encourages you to do your best.'

The best Guernsey performer on the day was Erica Bodman, 18, who took the Island Electric high jump honours with a 1.65m clearance.

The former Ladies' College student, who is off to Cambridge University next month to study to become primary school teacher, was the only home athlete to win her event when she got the better of second-placed Jade Surman from Birchfield Harriers.

'It's quite a shock as I didn't expect that because a couple of people dropped out,' said Bodman.

'It was really windy so it made it harder. I felt closer to 1.70m on the last jump.

'It's really good there are so many people here that I know from the UK. The girl who came second jumped 1.71m last weekend so I didn't expect to get close to her.'

The main man in the field events was current British hammer champion Andy Frost. Standing at just over 6ft 2in. and weighing in at 120kg, the 25-year-old is a proverbial man mountain.

He smashed his own all-comers' hammer record of 65.82m, which he set in the 2003 Island Games, with a throw of 70.43.

The Isle of Wight native is looking to represent his home island at next year's Island Games in Rhodes.

'I hope to, as I always like the Island Games and it would be my fifth one,' he said.

'It's been very good today. You get less of a crowd at a British league meeting. It's nice to get a crowd who appreciate what you're doing.'

Someone else who was gushing about the day was former Olympic silver and bronze medallist, Du'aine Ladejo.

The 35-year-old also appeared on ITV's Celebrity Love Island last year.

He cruised to victory in the Ian Brown Cycles 400m in a time of 48.52.

'I've really, really enjoyed it,' said Ladejo.

'It was important for me to come to Guernsey. The crowd and the welcome they have given have been incredible.

'Apart from the wind, the track is a perfect training stadium. I've never been to a better club track than this and I've been to a few in my time.'

After the relay races, the team competition was finely balanced between Birchfield and Woodford Green and everything depended on the javelin. But when Woodford Green's Jamie Wright took that vital event, the team from Essex walked away with the honours.

'The attitude of Woodford and Birchfield has been fantastic,' said GIAAC president and match organiser Rob Batiste.

'These are two of the best clubs in the UK. We asked them to put out one of their strongest teams each and they have done.

'We wanted to put on a top sporting event for the Guernsey public and I think we have done.'