Apologies for the lateness of the post guys - yesterday turned into a pretty long day and i needed to rest up before the Long Jump tonight. I'm just back from the morning session so thought i'd give you an update on our progress and also take the opportunity to have a bit of a moan...
The morning session was again productive, with Tom and Will both progressing nicely in the 200m semis. Tom ran an easy race to finish third in an attempt to both keep a bit in reserve and also try and get an outside draw in the final. Will, looking as stylish as ever, finished an excellent 4th to progress, his 'whoop' of delight demonstrating his elation at making a final at his first games.
Mikey 'Mouth' Haslett and Dave Munro both produced classy runs to progress to the final of the 400m hurdles. Mikey eased down in winning his heat, whilst Dave produced a storming finish to progress. Dave can be so relaxed he's almost comatosed however, as 2 minutes before he set off he still hadn't put his spikes on! Di wasn't a happy bunny!
Our girls also ran in the 400m heats in the morning, with Sarah 'Granny' Dowling producing a fine pb in windy conditions to progress to the final. Harriet's famed turbo-booster failed to kick start unfortunately, but the way she ran her first 200m will no doubt have put her at the forefront of many peoples' thoughts come Thursday's heats.
Onto the evening session - no medals gained unfortunately, but i think of about 8 athletes competing only one had previous games experience and we were by no means outclasssed in any event. In no partucular order then...
Helen Sheen, fresh from her Judo silver, threw to a high standard in an extremely close javelin competition. Her finishing position of 7th by no means tells the full story - another 2 metres or so would have actually seen her with a bronze!!
Andrew Duncan was involved in quite a boxing contest in his 800m final, where he finished in a creditable 6th position in a high class field. The strength in depth we have in the mens 800m is astonishing at the moment when you consider that Duncan, Ben Brand, Tom Richmond, James Eccles, Andrew Newton, Keiron Murray, Conor Delanbanque et al could all be under 2 minutes come 2009 - i would love to be a fly on the wall in that selection meeting!!
Tom and Will completed their 200m odyssey with 5th and 7th places respectively in the final. For some strange reason they ran into a headwind despite the fact that all athletes have enjoyed tail winds in their events so far. Both will come on immeasurbly for the experience - Will is rumoured to be signed up by Stella McCartney for fashion tips however so whether he's on the plane to Aland is still up in the air...
A fast finishing Sarah Dowling finished 6th in her 400m final, and with this being her first full year at the distance there's surely more to come - unless age gets the better of hyer and the blanket and walking stick come out of the cupboard!!
Apologies if i've missed anyone but i'm hungry and need food - just enough time for a rant though. In no particular order, these things pissed me off yesterday...
1) Triple Jump. Apparently all the boards are welded into position meaning that anyone wishing to jump of the 11m board (as i do) will be forced to run over the 13m board on their penultimate stride. Having nearly injured myself in the past in this situation i've had to have a serious think about my participation on Friday... i've got a game plan but to even be in this position is a farce.
2) Officials. One thing i like about the games is the rigidity of proceedings - you know where you stand and well turned out and tuned in officials give the occasion so much more importance. As you can probably guess however, that isn't the case here. Watching the Women's triple jump i was treated to the sight of the board official sat cross-legged wearing jeans, shouting distances to a colleague 15metres away. 2 of the officials looked no older than 9, and generally i'm not filled with a lot of optimism that any problems that will arise are going to be dealt with. Our management team are performing fantastically to voice all concerns, but we really shouldn't be in this position.
3) Buses. The service over here is nothing short of diabolical. Last night was the worst of all, with a wait of 30 minutes at our hotel producing 4 buses, all of which featured crazy Greek drivers who clearly couldn't be arsed picking anyone up and driving straight past, nearly knocking a swimming official over at one stage. It does nothing for the confidence of athletes who need to sign in for a certain time - think i'm going to bite the bullet and get a taxi down tonight!!
There we go, rant over. I'm sure i've missed loads out but you get the picture! I'm off to prepare for what will be a fiercely contested Long Jump competition tonight - updates to come later.
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