Houston left speechless

Sprinter Tre Houston went through the whole range of emotions this weekend as he thought he had broken the Bermuda national record in the 100m, only to have it taken away from him.

But the Commonwealth Games-bound runner says it has only made him more focused to go even faster.

Houston ran a 10.22 100m in the Last Chance Meet in Clermont, Florida, over the weekend. That was fast enough to break the Bermuda national record of 10.27 held by Devon Bean, but, unfortunately for Houston, the wind gauge malfunctioned and it could not be ratified.

Prior to Houston’s run, Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson had blazed a 9.74 but the wind reading was over 2.0.

Houston said: “By the time I ran, the wind had died down to a legal wind. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a wind reading but it’s something I have to work with. I wasn’t the only person it affected.

“I’m just going to have to go out and do it again.”

Houston said he was walked back towards his coach and proceeded to take off his spikes.

“He told me I had a new national record so I ran to him thinking that he was joking with me. All my teammates were telling me I ran10.22 and I though ‘There was no way.’ I did run the race very well, but I didn’t think it was that quick.”

Houston said once he found out the time was real he was “speechless. I didn’t know what to say”.

He said then he got the bad news that the wind gauge had malfunctioned.

“’I kept asking my coach, ‘Are they going to ratify the time?’ Just hoping that they would, but unfortunately they’re not going to ratify it.”

Houston said: “This gives me a lot of confidence as it shows that I can run that time and I have been even quicker in training. For me, it’s just about executing it and hitting it on the day.”

Houston’s current personal best is 10:34, but with his ‘can-do’ attitude, that is sure to fall sometime in the near future.