Athletics: Special Events One competition-Fast sprint times clocked |06 February 2006

In the women’s race, after favourite Sabrina Laurence became the season’s first casualty with a pull muscle in her right leg when leading,  youth category sprinter Alice Khan of River Star took top honours in a time of 7.9 seconds, one hundredth of a second slower than Samantha Akatsa’s hand timing best of 7.8 seconds clocked on February 28, 2004.

Second to Khan in 8.2 seconds was senior runner Bryna Anacoura who is making a comeback after a two-year absence.

Third was Arlette Belmont (youth) in 8.5 seconds, fourth Medline Zelia (youth) in 9.0 seconds, while Laurence (youth) finished fifth in 9.4 seconds.

As Laurence hobbled to the stands to let her coach Giovanni Fanny evaluate the seriousness of the injury, it was clear that the young sprinter, who made a strong start to the 2005 season but missed the World Youth Championship because of a thigh injury, could be out for at least two weeks to let the latest injury heal.

After her victory, Khan was congratulated by friends who told her that even if Laurence had not picked up the injury she would have won. It is thus interesting to see if Khan can beat a fully fit Laurence …

Speaking of comeback, senior 60m hand timing (7.5 seconds) and electronic timing (7.53 seconds) record holder Joanna Hoareau has set February 25 as the date of her return to full competition after having stayed away from the tracks for some time now.

After a false start by Christopher Laurencine, the youngest sprinter in the rather strong field, Danny D’Souza used a sudden burst of speed to distance himself from main challenger Mervin Loizeau.

River Star’s D’Souza, who last year chose athletics over hockey, won in 6.9 seconds, two hundredths of a second off the pace of Nelson Lucas’ junior hand timing record of 6.7 seconds set on February 21, 1998.

Loizeau, whose personal best is 6.8 seconds, took the runner-up position in 7.1 seconds and third was Laurencine in 7.2 seconds.

After winning the women’s long jump with a 4.74m effort, Anse Boileau’s Janet Boniface, running in the girls’ category, was first in the ladies’ 300m race in 45.8 seconds, while one-lap specialist Evans Marie (senior) easily won the men’s race in 35.0 seconds.
Travis Hardy (senior) was the first to cross the finish line of the 600m race in 1 minute 24.5 seconds, relegating Denis Rose (junior) into second place with 1:26.2.

With no opponent, Katrina Labiche ran with the male participants in the 600m race and clocked 2:03.2.

With high jump not featuring among the events, Jude Sidonie won both the 60m hurdles in 8.4 seconds and the long jump with a best leap of 6.95 metres on his third attempt.

In the longest distance -1,000m - on the track on Friday, Simon Labiche won in 2:37.1 and the women’s winner was Anna Barra in 3:14.8.

Sportslady of the Year 2005 Lindy Leveau-Agricole won her two field events on Friday - discus (with 43.30m) and shot putt (with 12.10m).

It must be noted that at the start of every athletics season, local track and field specialists use the shorter distances in special events to warm up for their favourite events.

And although no record was broken in the Special Events One competition, the Seychelles Athletics Federation (SAAF) is expecting records to be threatened during the next edition of the competition.

G. G.