Imogen Hart knew the time was quick. She did not know how quick until her coach, standing by the fence at the top bend of the Kestrel Park track, started waving both arms. The 16-year-old from Bayside AC had just run 52.41 seconds for 400 metres, breaking a national junior record that had stood for 12 years.
The previous mark of 52.69 had survived a generation of promising athletes. Hart, who only switched from the 200 metres last season, ran a controlled first half, sitting just behind the leader through the back straight, before pulling clear around the final bend. Her winning margin was more than a second. Several of the senior athletes warming up for later races stopped to watch the final 100 metres.
Conditions helped a little. The wind dropped late in the afternoon and the track, resurfaced two years ago, was dry after a damp morning. Officials confirmed the timing system had been checked before the meeting and that the result will be submitted for ratification.
A gradual build, not a sudden jump
Her coach, Martin Ekwueme, has worked with Hart since she was eleven. He said the record was the result of a patient approach rather than a breakthrough. "We have not chased races," he said. "She has competed maybe eight times this year. The rest has been training, school and sleep, in roughly that order."
I just tried to stay relaxed until the last hundred and then I stopped thinking.
Hart, who is studying for exams at a secondary school in St Anselm's Hill, spoke quietly after the race and seemed more interested in the warm-down than the cameras. She said the 400 metres had felt "horrible" when she first tried it and that she still finds the final straight hard. "It never gets easier," she said. "You just get a bit better at hurting."
Hart's previous personal best was 53.30, set earlier this year.
Bayside AC now hold three national junior records across sprint events.
The record must be ratified by the national athletics body before it is official.
Club chair Lorraine Whitcombe said the result would be a lift for the city's athletics community. Bayside AC train at Kestrel Park four evenings a week and have seen junior membership rise by a quarter since the track reopened.