Back in 2016, the Island won men’s team gold at the Hampshire Cross-Country Championships for the first time, before triumphing again in 2024 with another impressive show of strength in depth.
A strong contingent of Sarnians – including several from the original gold-medal squad – will return to Fairthorne Manor in the Southampton countryside this weekend, but the team’s hopes have been hit by a rule preventing athletes representing clubs for which they are second-claim members.
This means potential top-10 finishers Richard Bartram and Sammy Galpin are unable to count for Guernsey Athletics Club.
Guernsey will be disproportionately affected by the rule, given the reliance on such athletes who hold their main membership with a UK-based club.
‘It looks as though organisers are enforcing a rule which we’re not sure about,’ Island endurance coach Paul Ingrouille said.
‘It seems contrary to UK Athletics guidelines.
‘The relevant UK Athletics rule still appears to allow Guernsey-born athletes such as Richard and Sammy to represent Guernsey AC as their second-claim club in county competition, but the organisers have ruled otherwise.
‘To challenge for the team race, we really need four or five athletes in the top 20. Richard and Sammy are such athletes and their loss dents the team chances.’
After heading both of Guernsey’s previous team golds, Lee Merrien is entered for this year’s race, alongside the likes of James Priest and George Mason.
Jack Rees’ step into the senior category provides a big boost on paper.
He recently won the club championships from Merrien at St Germain Nature Reserve, though an injury on Boxing Day has caused uncertainty leading up to Hampshire.
Richard Kowenicki and Mike Wilesmith are also returning from the six-strong squad that struck gold in 2016, while several others had plotted comebacks for the milestone occasion but been sidelined.
These returning athletes will instead be competing in the veteran men’s category, where Guernsey are reigning team champions and are well-equipped for a repeat result.
Guernsey have also ended up cruelly short of a full senior women’s team.
After limited interest in the last two years, the island will go in armed with four formidable female athletes.
But although Guernsey champion Eleanor Jamieson will be running the same distance as the senior women, her participation will only be as a strong individual prospect in the U20 event.
The senior trio of Eloise Scholes, Kylie Vaudin and Nix Dobson will not be eligible for the four-person team event and yet could also place well individually.
‘We’ve got four very good athletes going, but we’re not going to be challenging for the women’s team,’ Ingrouille added.
‘Hopefully the women that are there can come away with some good individual performances.’
Guernsey have entered no fewer than 23 senior competitors, together with 22 in the various junior categories from U20 down to U13.
This is despite Guernsey Athletics losing £3,500 worth of flights for juniors and accompanying coaches after the Blue Islands collapse, which were nevertheless re-booked for what development officer Tom Druce describes as ‘our single most important event in the calendar for us to blood our youngsters in UK competition’.
