Rees raced home on Thursday evening as the fastest athlete ever to tackle the coast-road dash – not that he knew it at the time – while Scholes beat the women’s course record by a single second, becoming Guernsey’s quickest female miler for any surface.
As is generally the case, athletes were able to capitalise on favourable winds, with decently strong westerlies making Gary Broster’s similarly-assisted record from 1992 that much more attainable.
Rees ventured outside his current half marathon focus to light up the fastest of two heats, unleashing a determined sprint towards the ticking clock and capping off a mighty solo effort of 4min. 14sec.
Some confusion surrounded the existing record, which was credited in commentary as slightly quicker, but it eventually came to light that Broster’s previous mark had stood at 4-16.
‘Going in not having known the record, not expecting too much from the race, and breaking the record, you can’t be much happier than that,’ Rees said.
Still only 19, and chasing a big personal best at October’s Manchester Half Marathon, Rees faced a different challenge over this one-mile charge.
‘I wasn’t sure I was going to do it, because I’ve been training for longer stuff,’ he said.
‘It was a bit of a drop down in distance. A lot faster than I’ve run recently, so I was just going to see what happened.
‘In my mind I was going to run about 4-20, so it’s quicker than that, which I’m very chuffed with.’
In a three-way tussle behind him, 16-year-old triathlete Freddie Furley called upon his fierce finishing sprint to nab second spot in 4-34.
This came as 44-year-old Steve Dawes, in his own rare under-distance venture, just held off U15 athlete Paul Friedrich in a shared time of 4-35.
Fellow veteran Toby Mann finished fifth in 4-38, just ahead of All Terrain Challenge champion Mickey Haimes (4-40) and an in-form Tom Nichols (4-41).
Top woman Scholes soon came charging towards the clock and over the line in 4-49.
That was good for 13th within a deep field on the night, but more notably it enabled her to dip 1sec. under the best effort of Commonwealth Games athlete Sarah Roe, who had run 4-50 in 2017 before repeating it the following year.
Achieving this record meant the 22-year-old, who has struggled to challenge her best track times from late May and June, could finish her season on a marked high.
‘I’m so happy, because it’s been a very turbulent season,’ she said.
‘I started really well, but I’ve been balancing this with doing my solicitor exams, so I had a lot of stress right in the peak period of July and it all went downhill.
‘So this is a very, very nice moment for me.’
Scholes had already taken Guernsey’s female track mile record through a marginally sub-5min. run last August, and a year later she was making history as the first woman under 4-50 on the road.
Not that she had gone in chasing a time.
‘I didn’t look at my watch at all,’ she added.
‘I was just in the mindset of just stick in it and race it, because I’ve been chasing the clock all season and that stopped the enjoyment side of it.
‘This was very much get stuck in and hold on, and have a bit of fun, because I love a road race.
‘It’s been good fun and thank you to everyone who puts on the races.’
Having maintained her fitness well during a three-week family holiday in North America, U20 Eleanor Jamieson claimed second woman overall in a massive course PB of 5-14.
This 11sec. outright mile and 30sec. course PB underlined her significant improvements over the last year.
The third-quickest women’s time had actually come in the support race, pitched at those expecting to take 6min. or longer. There, Eve Bott managed to outperform that billing with a 5-58.
U14 runner James Wilson came first in that support race in 5-51.
