Athletics-Patron’s Cup produces three records |16 March 2005

And compared to last year when six records were broken, three were shattered this year and they both came on the first of the two-day meet.

Another two best times were equalled in the 100 metres as young sprinters showed big time temperament to deal with both the heat and the challenge of senior opponents.

Surely a name to be reckoned with in the throws, big man Kenny Marie, no stranger to success for he has won Southern Region Youth Athletics Championship medals – two silver in the shot putt and discus in 2003, a gold in discus and a bronze in shot putt in 2004 - hurled the 1.75 kg discus over a distance of 40.20 metres in the open category for a new junior record at Stad Popiler last Friday.

“It’s a good start for the season and I hope to beat more records. My coach (Mikola Avilov) is correcting my mistakes and I’m confident of doing much better in the future,” said 18-year-old Marie.
On the same day, young female long distance specialist Phylis Labonne ran the energy-sapping 3,000 metres (seven laps and a half) in 11.03.6, slicing almost 10 seconds off her old record of 11:13.2 set on May 5 last year.

It is to note that Labonne’s record awaits ratification by the Seychelles Amateur Athletics Federation’s technical committee because there were only two instead of three stop watches.

Beaten by Louisianne Françoise in the 100 metres of the Open Season competition on Saturday March 12, Sabrina Laurence came all out for revenge and she achieved it in Saturday’s race by outsprinting the senior sprinter, but she once again had to accept second place.

With a time of 12.4 seconds, equalling the youth best time she had been sharing with Samantha Akatsa since July 10, 2004, Laurence finished second to Joanna Houareau, who confirmed her status as the country’s number one female sprinter in her first race with a time of 12.1, way off her record of 11.7 seconds.

With her improvement heading in the right direction under coach Giovanni Fanny’s watchful eyes, Laurence, a sure bet for the future, demolished the 200-metre youth record by clocking 25.5 seconds. The old best time of 26.2 seconds belonged to Natacha Bibi and Bryna Anacoura since June 2000.

She earned 958 points for her performance to grab first place in the female youth category.

“I did not expect to get the 200-metre record. I ran well and I just saw myself running faster and faster. Joanna’s comeback is good news for me for she will surely push me to go faster and I will be chasing her in most races,” said 15-year-old Laurence who trains four times weekly.

The other record that was equalled on Saturday again came in the 100 metres with Christopher Laurencine stopping the clock at 11.5 seconds in the boys (U16) category.

Denis Marie clocked this same time on June 29, 2001.

With the athletes’ results earning them points on the 2005 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) scoring tables, the different category winners were: Fabiana Oreddy (colt female, 14.6 seconds in the 100 metres for 617 points), Derrick Derjacques (colt male, 4.53 metres in the long jump for 415 points), Nathanielle Cherry (girl, 13.1 seconds in the 100 metres for 827 points), Christopher Laurencine (boy, 11.5 seconds in the 100 metres for 683 points), Sabrina Laurence (youth female, 25.5 seconds in the 200 metres for 958 points), Nelson Renaud (youth male, 51.2 seconds in the 400 metres for 811 points), Joanna Hoareau (open female, 12.1 seconds in the 100 metres for 978 points) and Evans Marie (open male, 48.1 seconds in the 400 metres for 987 points).
It is to note that in her first competition this year, Joanna Houareau retained her senior title and was the only athlete to achieve this feat as others -  Nathanielle Cherry, Natifa Larue, Marcus Labrosse, Eugène Ernesta, Christopher Laurencine, Marcus François and Samantha Akatsa - either lost theirs or won in different categories.

All category winners received cups.

Participants had the choice to participate in as many events they wanted, but at the same time they had to take part in at least two events that did not fall in the same group for their score to be considered for the final standing.
  

G. G.