Bain strikes gold at county championships in Portsmouth

The 800m specialist headed to Portsmouth with an uncanny record of four consecutive fourth-place finishes at the annual Hampshire Track and Field Championships. But this time, she won under-17 gold.

As her breakthrough season draws to a close, the recent Southern champion also lowered her Guernsey U17 record to 2min. 14.4sec.

Bain built her race off a slower first lap, unofficially 1-08, as she bided her time initially and let several fast-starting rivals burn out.

She forged ahead before the bell and never looked threatened as she beat her nearest competitor, the Isle of Wight’s Maisey Kent, by 3.3sec.

‘To finally get the first, it is brilliant,’ she said after some painful memories of missing the podium by hundredths of a second in previous years.

‘I’ve been working towards it for as long as I can remember.

‘I did get a bit impatient 300m in, but it paid off because I got a PB and I wasn’t expecting that, because it’s the end of the season – probably my last race.

‘I thought, coming into the final straight, they were right behind me, but I was pleased to see I had quite a sizeable lead.’

Fellow U17 Gian-Luca Robilliard, the age-group 800m champion, added silver over 1,500m after doing his best to hold Southampton’s Ben Brown.

Brown is an aerobic machine, with a sub-15min. best for 5km, and he forced a fierce pace to gap the powerful Robilliard after two laps.

Although 12sec. off the runaway winner, Robilliard came close to his PB and placed solidly second with 4-13.2.

Emma Etheredge claimed senior women’s 800m bronze with a PB of 2-26.9.