Tomorrow’s Intertrust Athletics Games will welcome a near-full-strength squad of England U20s to Foote’s Lane – many with national medals to their name – as the best talent from Jersey and Guernsey combine for the first time since the Channel Islands withdrew from the national leagues in 2015.
The level of competition is such that it has drawn Guernsey’s 400m ace Cam Chalmers to compete on local soil for the first time in three years, with the GB international eyeing Dale Garland’s all-comers’ track record of 46.5 seconds. Chalmers has previously run almost a full second faster.
Jersey sprinter Tyler Johnson will line up alongside Sarnian Island Games rival Josh Allaway once again, although this time they will be on the same side in the 100m and 200m, and teenager Charlie Livingston partners Guernsey’s GB U18 record holder Ala Chalmers in the 400m hurdles.
Jeux des Iles medallists Olivia Allbut [400m] and Evan Campbell [long jump, high jump, shot putt] will also be making the journey across to represent CI, while a handful of Jersey Spartan juniors will also be in action for the 2018 inter-insular, including Seb Wilkinson and Andrew Gatehouse [100m], Jem Gurner, Razvan Roman [800m] and T35 para-athlete Grace Greenwood [100/200m].
The English men’s sprint squad will be spearheaded by Southern 100m champion Brandon Mingeli (a 10.52s man) and Northern 200m champion William Hughes, while current British under-20 100m hurdles lead Anastasia Davies and distinguished U17 100m runner Amy Hunt, who holds a 11.63s best, are the best of a talented women’s bunch.
The off-track action will be headlined by high jumper Abby Ward, who recorded a British-leading 1.84m this season and looks set to shatter the all-comers’ record of 1.67m, while fellow juniors Samuel Challis and Eleanor Broome will threaten the men’s and women’s long jump records.
Meet organiser Tom Druce said: ‘The sprints in general look to be very well-filled which is going to be very exciting and the girls’ high jump also looks extremely good – we’ve been trying to look at the field events recently and there are going to be some big performances there.’
