An entry of 200 is expected and Whalley’s presence is likely to result in the quickest 10k road performance Guernsey has ever seen.Whalley, who last month competed for Britain at the World Cross-Country Championships, has the potential to run under 29 minutes in the opening event.
Former GB élite triathlete Nigel Leighton and Guernsey’s Lee Merrien should push him to a quick time in a high-class race.Whalley and Merrien skip the rest of the Easter runs to save themselves for their 3,000 metres showdown at Monday’s Healthspan-Visit Guernsey Open track and field meeting.Other than the Whalley-Merrien showdown, the highlight of the weekend is the visit of a University of Bath squad.
Top attractions are jumpers Becky White, Matthew Thurgood and Seni Magicidoni – not to mention Guernsey’s Dale Garland.White is a regular full GB international and Magicidoni a triple jumper who recently won the British Universities’ indoor title.
Bath’s Daryl Stone returns in a bid to reclaim his all-comers’ high jump mark which he lost to Isle of Man’s Martin Aram at the Island Games.The Isle of Wight’s expected participation has not materialised but Jersey, as usual, are sending 23 seniors and 20 juniors.Jersey Athletics Development officer Andrew Winnie said: ‘This is the first outdoor meeting of the year, with the CI ladies preparing for their first league match of the season in a couple of weeks.
For the men and juniors, it’s part of their build-up towards the Hampshire County Championships next month.’Lauren Thérin is expected to do well in all the throwing events, while Paul Dingle will be looking to add to his string of personal bests in the long and triple jumps.
Simon Phelan and Stephen Prosser will both be up against Guernsey’s Dale Garland.Winnie added: ‘There’s not enough competition in the under-17s so we’ve put Stephen in the 100 and 200 metres open races, both against Dale.
It will be interesting to see how he gets on.
Simon will be against Dale too.
He hasn’t jumped indoors this winter and I’m hopeful he will jump two metres, just like he did at the end of last summer.’
