Young Kate (14) on target
THE Bain siblings shared bill-topping status and twice denied the Rowe family at Footes Lane.
While Chris Bain entered the men’s 800m ‘A’ race as hot favourite and ran to par, Kate Bain impressed by earlier snatching the top women’s spot in an Island Games ‘A’ standard time.
This was no mean feat for 14-year-old Kate given that she had 2019 Island Games bronze medallist Katie Rowe for company in her heat.
Settling behind several male competitors, Bain ran a confident race with a mild negative split, never yielding to her senior opponent and unleashing a swift sprint for a 2min. 17.64sec. personal best.
This put her nearly a second inside the Games ‘A’ mark as Rowe followed in 2-20.41.
Elder brother Chris later consolidated his status as Guernsey’s premier 800m runner in another rendition of the Bain-Rowe rivalry.
Tom Druce set a hot pace as Bain and Alex Rowe settled behind him and they hit the bell circa 56.0sec.
The clock read 1-24 as Druce stepped aside at 600m, but the pace dropped markedly and Bain settled for 1-55.62, a second outside his recent best.
‘I was targeting 1-52, so to fall three seconds behind that is disappointing,’ said the ambitious Bain.
‘Having said that, a win is still a win and there are several more races left in which to hopefully improve.’
Rowe finished 0.6sec. back and Sam Lesley ran sub-2min. by the finest margin possible. Endurance runner James Priest provided the main surprise factor after making several late overtakes and posting a near four-second PB of 2-01.91.
Abi Galpin delivered a solid sprint double, but unhelpful conditions made for relatively tame times.
After Josh Duke inched down his 100m PB by one-hundredth with 11.43, she ran 12.51.
Galpin had earlier clocked 25.35 in the 200m to land one-tenth outside the fastest male time – that of U15 Tim Ap Sion – and Vicky Hancock was the top performer in the opening sprint hurdles over various distances.
