Perrio convinced she can go quicker after new CI record
LOUISE PERRIO clocked a new Channel Islands record in a fruitful trip to the Manchester Half and is hungry for more.
Among a dozen-strong contingent of Guernsey athletes competing in Manchester, Perrio took full advantage of the ‘elite’ treatment and went on to place fourth woman with a quick 1hr 18min. 15sec.
Perrio ran a well-paced race and initially settled in among a small group featuring several other women’s elite starters.
She was impeded on several occasions, whittling away at her patience, and she finally pushed on in the closing miles en route to eclipsing her previous mark from Gotland 2017.
Given Perrio’s relatively few appearances over 13.1 miles, she feels she has the legs for an even faster time.
‘Obviously I’m happy to run a PB and I’m happy to have got past the “getting to eight miles and dying” stage – this is definitely a better way to race it,’ she said.
‘I think I’m capable of a low 1-17 but I don’t know if I can go much quicker than that.
‘I probably need to do a bit more specific training as with the road relays and taking a trip to Jersey, I haven’t trained as planned.’
Several other Island Games prospects impressed with quick times of their own and recent Guernsey Marathon champion Pete Amy was at the forefront of this with a superb 1-13-58 clocking, good for 39th in the 14,000-plus athlete field.
Amy’s time was even more notable given a few weeks of downtime following August’s marathon exploits, but he ran an excellent race to eclipse even his breakthrough performance from the Father’s Day ‘Half’ earlier this year.
Perrio’s fellow Gotland half-marathoners Laura McCarthy and Jenny James were in action over the distance for the first time this year and both marked this with impressive PBs.
They benefited from progressive pacing to pick up times of 1-23-36 and 1-24-24 respectively, both significantly within the Gibraltar 2019 ‘A’ standard and worth fifth and ninth on Guernsey’s all-time list.
Of the remaining Guernsey athletes, Tom Shaw neared his best after holding Perrio for much of the race while Jamie Ingrouille (1-20-35) and Nick Mann (1-22-16) made large improvements on their PBs.
