Abi sprints into record books

First came a stunning 200m performance where the 19-year-old stormed to a 24.60sec. clocking and removed some 0.35sec. from Hannah Lesbirel’s senior best set three years ago.

Little over an hour later, Galpin sped to a new under-23 100m record of 12.19, edging Kylie Robilliard’s decade-old mark by one hundredth.

‘It was a bit of a shock to run 24.60 in legal conditions,’ she said after U17 boy Alex Falla just pipped her for the spoils in the premier 200m heat.

‘I don’t think I could have had a better day for it and it was really great to have Alex in the race to push me the whole way.’

Naturally, after achieving both of her season goals in rapid succession, the Bath University student was left pondering what’s next.

‘I think my current target is to try and knock a bit more off the 100 time this season if I get more good conditions.

‘Otherwise, I’m looking forward to Guernsey 2021, which will be amazing if it gets the go ahead.’

The other sprinter who impressed was Josh Allaway, who had no such competition as he covered the single straight in 10.88.

Despite running unchallenged and off recent injury, he had successfully posted his fourth fastest legal 100m ever.

Over two laps of the oval, Chris Bain continued the youth influence, winning the 800m in a solid 1-55.49 as training ally Sam Lesley trailed by 3sec.

The other talk of ‘the lane’ last week was the emergence of a new field figure – even if only for the short-term.

The top locals certainly didn’t expect any visiting rivalry at the mid-week Field Fest, so when Bournemouth’s Ed Moyse appeared, it turned a few heads.

More eyebrows then rose as former decathlete Moyse, who has travelled to and isolated in Guernsey with his wife, won the shot put and took second in the long jump.

It was Moyse’s first competition in seven years and he, a Cambridge University graduate, had gained national media coverage for his entrepreneurial endeavours in the interim period.

He hurled his shot 10.96m to beat veteran Guernsey great Dale Garland by 39cm as James Bougourd, better known as the island’s foremost javelin thrower of recent years, hit 9.70m.

Moyse had earlier impressed on the long-jump runway and pit.

It took a solid performance from Jonny Guille, covering 6.27m, to prevent his 5.94m from topping the standings as U15 Tim Ap Sion took third with what seemed to equal the island age-group record of 5.86m.

All three were marginally over the wind limit, though. Sofia Mella was more fortunate to win the women’s contest with a legal Island Games ‘B’ standard of 4.91m.

Moyse termed Guernsey ‘paradise’, while athletics development officer Tom Druce is rather glad to have a new face to lift the competition.

‘It created quite a buzz,’ said Druce in reference to the shot put in particular.

‘A lot of interest with the location of the stadium [close to the shot put circle].

‘It’s a nice addition and it caused some interest for the competition, the likes of Jonny, Dale and James, as it’s nice to go against someone different.’