Chalmers brothers to head record bid
GUERNSEY’S long-standing 4x400m record could become history after an exciting bid led by the Chalmers brothers this Sunday.
That is one hot target for our young representative quartet, who also have their eyes on the Commonwealth Games ‘A’ standard in a special outing at the classy Loughborough International.
Olympic hopeful Cam Chalmers has been instrumental in establishing Guernsey’s first team outing at Loughborough, where he heads the squad from younger brother Alastair, plus reigning Island Games relay champions Peter Curtis and Sam Wallbridge.
They must run 3min. 12sec. to hit the Commonwealths standard, which is 0.38sec. faster than the record performance Tom Druce, Dale Garland, Matt Bailey and Hywel Robinson used to strike gold at Aland in 2009.
Can they do it? Athletics development officer Druce feels it is definitely possible.
‘The boys are realistic that it’s not going to be easy,’ he said.
‘Peter and Sam are not 100% sure what time they have got in their legs. If you look at Cam, he needs to be where Dale was and Ala needs to be where I was at, and the other boys need to do their best and we can probably get the time.
‘It won’t be easy, but it’s definitely within possibility.’
At Gibraltar 2019, where Druce anchored a golden relay run which resulted in a notably fast time of 3-13-51, both Wallbridge and Curtis were among his teammates.
The unexpected hero of that final, individual sprint champion Joe Chadwick, happens to now be studying at Loughborough University but, unfortunately, is injured.
This latest outing marks a rare and possibly one-off opportunity.
As Druce says, few meetings offer the right level of competition for Guernsey’s ‘4x4’ squad, and the Chalmers brothers will have bigger fish to fry later this season.
Cam has also been eyeing an individual 400m outing earlier in the afternoon to build on his recent domestic opener of 45.98.
But the 24-year-old’s commitment to team duties has pleased Druce, the man usurped as Guernsey’s quickest quarter-miler ever.
‘It’s testament to him and his desire to represent Guernsey as best he can, as a team rather than only as an individual,’ he added.
