Only one club record fell during the day – Sophie Twinam topping Claire Lidster’s under-15 girls’ high jump mark – but there were some close fought contests during the day.In perfect jumping conditions the club’s athletes produced a top class high jump competition.
Amy Dingle and Stephanie Le Ruez (under-13 girls) could only be separated on countback at a height of 1.31m, and it was the same with the under-11 boys, Sam Dawkins and Paul Phelan both jumping 1.24m.Ross Jeffs continued a remarkable season of progress winning the under-13 event with a jump of 1.49m with Simon Phelan’s 1998 record of 1.55m now clearly within his sights as he has a year left to achieve it.The high jump competition continued into mid-afternoon with Jason Fox (under-15 boys) and Jordan Lisle (under-20 men) both clearing 1.70m.
Twinam’s first-time record jump, however, remained the highlight of the day.As always the sprints produced the high excitement for the spectators.
The under-11 60m events required heats and finals with newcomer Ebony Jacklin winning both her heat and the all-important final.Sam Dawkins marked himself as one to watch for the future in winning the boys’ race in style.
This race was notable in that the meeting referee decided the bronze medal position after recourse to a video replay.Elsewhere on the track it was Samantha Mallon, a member of Liverpool Harriers on holiday and guesting in the under-13 girls’ 800m who produced the best performance of the day.
After a cautious start she took the pace out and won in a Spartan record-equalling time of 2 min 34.1 sec.Out at the long jump pit there was a battle royal between the talented under-13 girls Amy Dingle and Jenna Murphy with Dingle the winner by a mere centimetre with a jump of 4.24m.Equally close was Robyn Edwards’s win over Lucy Crossman in the under-11 girls competition, while Shadine Duquemin and William Humphrey won the youngest age group events.The throwing events were sparsely contested – a disappointment as this is one of the club’s strengths at present.
However, under-15 throws Jamie Stevenson and David Felton put on a good exhibition as did Beckie Slater in the javelin while the throws coaches have their eye on David Blampied who threw the cricket ball 32.83m in the under-nine event.Several of the Island Games athletes treated the spectators to an assault on the long-standing senior club records at the rarely-contested 150m and 300m distances.
However, with a slight headwind in the home straight the records of Rob Currie and Jon Guégan narrowly survived.
