Athletics: Special Events Three competition-Young sprint stars get faster |21 February 2005

While the Seychelles Amateur Athletics Federation (SAAF) secretariat updates the special events column of the record books this week, sprinters will have their eyes set on lowering more times as early as next Saturday in the Combined Events competition, the beginning of the full season.

Belonie Stars’ Ricardo Suzette and River Stars’ Christopher Laurencine got the record ball rolling on Saturday, clocking identical times of 7.3 seconds in different 60m races for boys (under 16 years old category).

The pevious best of 7.5 seconds belonged to three athletes – Jean-Paul Poonoo (since February 22, 1997), Terry Melon (since January 29, 2000) and Evans Mellon (since February 26, 2000).

Young sprinter Mervin Loizeau only thinks of winning and breaking records whenever he settles into the blocks for any race.

Still not 100% fit and having to remain concentrated on his race following a false start – his second in a fortnight – Loizeau, 17, made the 60m junior record his own Saturday, stopping the clock at 6.6 seconds after a slow start to erase from the record books Nelson Lucas’ old best of 6.7 seconds, set on February 21, 1998.

On Saturday February 5, he took his feet off the accelerator after the first 100 metres to cruise home in a record time of 16.4 seconds in the 150m race. On Saturday, Loizeau did almost the same thing and he had no trouble equalling the time, proving that he can run faster when he regains full fitness.

“I could have lost the 60m race. But I wanted to prove that I can run fast. Having made a false start, I had to stay concentrated and not to beat the gun. Danny (D’Souza) ran well and I chased him for most of the race. It was an interesting race and I hope to get more of those races in future. I’m almost ready for the full season and I will compete even though I’m still nursing a muscle injury. With my coach (Barney Bonne), I have to work on my start to avoid future disappointment,” said Loizeau.

In the men’s 200m hurdles (five hurdles), senior hurdler Giovanni Fanny, a veteran of four Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) in 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1998, and one Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain in 1992, lowered his previous best of 25.2 seconds with a new time of 24.6 seconds.

The 38-year-old, who told Sports Nation two weeks ago that “I can run faster and it’s very likely that I’ll improve the record again the next time the distance features on the programme of events”, once again ran alongside Anthony Chow, one of his protégés, who clocked 25.2 seconds for a new junior record. The old best was 26.2 seconds and belonged to Chow himself.

Another 200m hurdles record was broken by Catherina Nourrice who cleared the five hurdles in a time of 32.8 seconds to improve on the 34.2 seconds she had clocked two weeks ago in the female youth (U18) category.

In the same 200m hurdles race, Janet Boniface, 13, who entered just to make the numbers, showed great potential in her first try at the event to clock 31.2 seconds to establish a girl (U14) category record. Ellen Roselie also established a junior (U20) record with a time of 33.4 seconds.

Sabrina Laurence dipped below 19 seconds in the 150m sprint for the first time in her young career, showing signs that she is improving quite fast. She clocked 18.9 seconds to slice six hundredths of a second off her own youth (U18) record of 19.5 seconds she had set earlier this month. Laurence also equalled Samantha Akatsa’s 60m record of 7.8 seconds.

Running in the same heat as Laurence, Nathanielle Cherry used her older opponent as pace setter to hit the tape in a new record time of 19.5 seconds, three hundredths of a second faster than her previous best of 19.8 seconds set on February 28 last year.

In the 60 metres, Cherry stopped the clock at 8.0 seconds to become joint girl (U16) record holder with Natifa Larue.

In the 300 metres, Joshua Clarisse made sure of improving his youth record of 39.8 seconds with a new time of 38.9 seconds.

G. G.