Guernsey Press

Brave Merrien battles to eighth-place finish

THE cream came to the top for Guernsey on the final weekend of a sun-drenched Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Published
Lee Merrien takes on both other runners and the brutal conditions in yesterday morning’s Commonwealth Games marathon. (Picture by Mark Shearman)

Lee Merrien survived a dramatic and controversial men’s marathon to take eighth spot, while 24 hours earlier Tobyn Horton came within a momentary ‘mechanical’ from perhaps riding onto the podium in a sprint finish to the men’s cycling road race.

Horton, who rides professionally for the British team Madison Genesis, was putting the hammer down in a race for the line when he dropped a chain. It was the worst possible moment and by the time his chain fully re-engaged, the vital momentum had been lost and yet he sailed over the line just a few metres behind the home winner Steele Von Hoff.

James McLaughlin, who had ridden brilliantly for sixth spot in the time-trial, was also hugely prominent, leading for a long while as he and Englishman Tom Stewart established a big lead which was only nullified on the last lap.

McLaughlin finished 28th, but again has shown his quality as a burgeoning international-class rider and he was later rewarded with the honour of carrying the Guernsey flag at the closing ceremony.

Games debutant Jack English also fully justified his selection with a 31st place finish.

Merrien ran in brutal early-morning heat and while rivals dropped either out or back down the small field in the fierce Queensland sun, the Sarnian paced himself well to post a time of 2-24-10.

It may have been the slowest of his eight marathons, but on a day when the world saw Scotland’s Callum Hawkins collapse in such a distressing manner just a mile from the finish with a gold medal seemingly in his pocket, it was the most heroic of all Merrien’s efforts over the 26.2-mile distance.

As he entered the home straight Merrien, on his farewell to athletics at this level, looked utterly spent.

‘It was a little warm out there today,’ he said later without making a fuss, while Guernsey cyclist James Roe was full of admiration: ‘How you can run a marathon in that heat is beyond me. A super-human effort,’ he tweeted.