Hannah Howard at
the ISLAND GAMES
30 June 2011
As many of you know, Eastleigh's own Hannah Howard has been representing the
Isle of Man this week in the Island Games, which is being held on the Isle
of Wight.
Hannah's Games campaign started early on Sunday morning as she lined up on
the athletics track at Sandown High School ready to take on a tough Half
Marathon course. The field split fairly early in the race, with a group of
three braking away from the rest, while Hannah was well positioned in a
group of 4 that were hot on their heels. By the halfway stage the leading
group was down to two, with the third placed runner slowly dropping back
towards the chasing group. With a few miles to go, Hannah was looking strong
in a battle for 4th place as she and another runner bore down on the lone
runner in 3rd. Unfortunately she was unable to close the gap and eventually
finished 5th in an excellent time of 1:25:55. She was not to be denied a
place on the podium, however, as her Isle of Man teammate crossed the line
in 6th to secure gold for the pair of them in the team competition.
After a couple of days rest, Hannah was back on the track again on Wednesday
night to compete in the 10,000m. Although slightly nervous at the prospect
of lining up against a strong field that included the medallists from the
Half Marathon in her first ever track race, she acquitted herself extremely
well. Again the pack split early on after a fast start, and Hannah found
herself in the chasing group. To her credit, she stuck to her race plan and
stayed within touching distance of the leaders through the middle part of
the race, slowly picking off runners that had gone off too fast with the
leaders and were now dropping back. In the final few laps the leading trio
stretched away from the rest of the field to set up what turned out to be a
very exciting finish. Further back, Hannah was now in 6th place and chasing
hard in an attempt to overhaul her teammate. Although she was unable to
bridge the gap, she sprinted down the home straight for an incredible time
of 38:27, smashing her 10k PB and lapping a back marker in the process.
Needless to say Hannah is delighted with her performances this week, and
would like to express her thanks to everyone at ERC for their messages of
support. She would also like to say a special thank you to Noel for all the
coaching and support he has given in the months leading up to this event.
And Hannah's already got her sights set on qualifying for the next Island
Games in 2 years' time. In Bermuda. I can't think why...
.
