'Loan' over as Mercier beats record

GEOFF KING has given the thumbs up to the island's middle distance runners enjoying a great summer, including success at the NatWest Island Games in Bermuda.

The GIAAC coach and stalwart took three runners to Solihull at the weekend for the first of this summer's British Milers Club Grand Prix events, where many of the country's top runners were performing in the typically exciting and fast-flowing programme in which every race is helped along by an official pacemaker.

The high point of the evening from a Guernsey point of view was the new island women's 1,500m record from Sarah Mercier, pictured, who took two seconds off the mark she recently lost to Nat Whitty.

'Sarah's outstanding spring period has extended into early summer as she smashed her previous best and reclaimed the record she "loaned" to Nat for a few weeks,' said King.