Ben Brand and Tom Riley happy after great runs in the 200m semi finals.
Harriet Pryke focuses an hour or so before running her 400m heat.
Ryan Fairclough, a picture of sartorial elegance, in reflective mood after finishing 3rd in his 800m heat.
There were mixed fortunes for the IOM athletes in the heats & semi-finals this morning. A total of 9 Manx athletes were action in the 5 events.
First to go was Michael Haslett in the 400m hurdles heats. After a fast 1st Heat, Mikey knew he would have to run well in Heat 2 to get through either in the first 2 or as one of the 2 fastest losers. Early in the race he clattered a hurdle really hard which disrupted his rhythm for a while, but then he really picked up the pace. With about 50 metres to go he was in a tight battle for 2nd until his rival fell at the final hurdle. This allowed Mikey to ease off over the last 40 metres or so. He is in fairly confident mood ahead of tonight's Final.
Next were the semis of the women's 100m featuring last night's stars Ciara McDonnell and Danielle Ross. In Semi 1, Ciara was holding 3rd place with about 30 metres to go but was unable to quite keep the momentum going to the end, and finished 5th in 13.05. It was still her second fastest ever time over 100 metres and she has done really well on her debut so far. In Semi 2, Danielle produced a terrific run to finish 3rd in a time of 12.90, and to qualify for tonight's Final as the faster of the 2 fastest losers. A great achievement on her Games debut and one that looked unlikely at the start of this season when she was struggling. The fastest runner this morning collapsed in agony at the end of the race and must be a doubt for the Final, so could Danielle be in with a chance of a medal?
In the men's 200m heats, Tom Riley and Ben Brand both ran pbs of 21.95 and 22.67. Tom qualified for tonight's Final as the fastest loser and feels in good shape. He will have his work cut out to get into the medals as the standard is very high, but he will be giving it his all. Ben also ran extremely well and recorded a second pb in 2 days. He looks in really good shape and this will set him up nicely for the 400m and relays later in the week.
There was further success in the women's 400m Heats, with Sarah Dowling and Harriet Pryke both qualifying for the final in style. There were 3 heats, with the winners and 3 fastest losers going through to tomorrow night's Final. Sarah was in Heat 1 with the highly rated Gemma Dawkins of Jersey, and had to ran flat out. She finished 2nd and recorded a substantial pb of 58.18. Harriet had the luxury of being able to ease off in the last 30 metres of Heat 2, which she still won in a very fast time of 57.14. Both Harriet and Sarah have genuine medal chances in this event.
The final event this morning was the men's 800m heats, featuring Games debutants Tom Richmond and Ryan Fairclough who were drawn together in Heat 2 (of 3). After a fast first Heat, the pace was slow on the first lap of this one, during which Tom got boxed and nearly tripped on the back straight. The first lap was over 62 seconds, and it was Ryan who hit the front and upped the pace at the start of lap 2. On the back straight Tom kicked and went into the lead, but in the home straight neither were able to maintain the pace and they finished 3rd and 4th respectively. Both were bitterly disappointed afterwards, but they are both debutants and this is all part of the learning process.
Plenty more action to follow later. I don't think I'll have time to post any more video this week, but between the Brands and myself there will be plenty of photos.
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