Zane Duquemin winning gold in the discus
IT was a golden triple at the athletics track in aAand last night as Kathryn Rothwell, Gemma Dawkins, and Zane Duquemin all topped the podium.
Duquemin was metres ahead of his competitors as he threw an NatWest Island Games record to win discus with 50.21m. His nearest rival could only reach 45.66m.
Speaking after the event he said: ‘I always had my eyes on the gold in this one but I was also trying to get close to 50m as I wanted to get the record and I did it by about one metre with a PB so it’s been a pretty good first Island Games for me.’
Also making her debut, 16-year-old Kathryn Rothwell could do little wrong as she bettered her PB by 1 cm to win the gold medal in the shot putt with a second round throw of 11.15m.
She said: ‘I was expecting the competition to be a lot tougher and was only hoping to finish third or fourth so I’m really shocked to get a gold medal.’
Gemma Dawkins was unstoppable as she ran a smooth race to claim her first individual gold medal in the 400m with a time of 55.72 which secured her a third PB in as many races.
She said: ‘I know it’s only the beginning of the Island Games but I feel like I’ve been here a week – I’m really tired after that, the last 100m felt like forever. I always wanted to break the 56 second mark and was only aiming to get a PB today so the medal is a great bonus.’
A desperate dip for the line brought Peter Irving a surprise silver medal in yesterday’s 110m hurdles. After a slow start Irving (26) ran himself back into contention and a surging stretch for the line brought him second place with only 0.02 seconds separating second to fourth. Irving said: ‘It’s a great result, I haven’t trained for this event and knew there was some tough competition so I wasn’t expecting a silver medal at all.
‘I pretty much fell out of the blocks so I was clawing back from the very start but I have always known the finish is a strong part of my race so I just gritted my teeth and took a massive dive for it and got it – I’m so surprised.’
Felicity Johnson-Deeley was thrilled to come away with a bronze medal in the 1,500m running 4.39.17 with Liz Murfin taking tenth place in 4.57.81.
A late entry into the shot putt event didn’t stop Jenny Browne from throwing a PB as she finished seventh with 8.82m ahead of her preferred event – tonight’s hammer.
The long jump final also takes place today, featuring Ross Jeffs, who qualified last night with 6.19m, and Stephen de la Haye, with 6.61m.
Earlier in the day both 4 x 100m relay teams made it through to the final but it wasn’t without controversy as coach Andrew Winnie explained: ‘The judge gave the girls a disqualification for a late changeover to which we lodged an appeal because the girls were convinced it was just in and so was I.
‘They looked at it on video, because they record the entire race, and said that it was difficult to tell so they reinstated us but that meant another team lost out so they appealed and we had to review it again but worked out using shadows that it was ok.’
Reflecting on the night he added: ‘I said it was going to be a good night and it was with so many PBs and medals – this was something special.’
Article posted on 1st July, 2009 - 12.27pm
