And onto Bermuda 2013

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Bermuda 2013 blog

Final Day

To start the final day of athletics Ross Hanley jumped a respectable 12.64 in the final Men’s “Triplepoint” jump just missing the cut after three jumps. We are still not sure whether “Triplepoint” (see program) is an equestrian event or a style of jumping.

Next on Track was the Women’s 5000m. Louise made a decisive break in the second half of the race and cruised to another victory, making her double Island Games Champion for the second time.

In the men’s 1500m final, Michael Batiste ran yet another PB of 4.06.07 and Lee Garland(who was hobbling even before he started) ran a respectable time of 4.12.31.

The women’s 4x100m team had a fantastic run, winning a well deserved gold medal in a convincing time of 48.25, which was a great achievement for the young squad with the average age of 18 years old, being an island record by 1.5 seconds. Well done to Kylie Robilliard, Caroline Kyle, Emma Le Conte, Teresa Roberts.

In the equivalent men’s event, the Guernsey team ran an impressive race despite a dodgy final changeover to finish second to the classy Cayman Team by just .01 of a second.

The men’s 10,000m – Steve Dawes was our medal hope. The illness leading up to the week ensured he wasn’t able to run to his potential and finished 4^th in a time of 32:19. Our other representative was Mike Wilesmith who ran a PB of 33:17.37 on his track debut for the distance.

The final event of the games was the 4x400m relays, first up was the Women who ran a 4:04:81 to come 4^th in the final. The team consisted of Caroline Kyle, Sadie Addlesee, Nat Whitty and Emma Le Conte.

Hi, it’s Tom here for the first time this week! Today was a mixed day for the relay teams (I am not really qualified to comment on the distance events – unless you want to hear about my ideas for running most of the races underground with only the final lap in the stadium.)

The girls ran a great sprint relay and took an island record with their victory. To quote Dale “well we better bloody win now”. We didn’t. Things seemed to be going ok until the final change over when myself and Azza (Josh) succumbed to lack of practice with a less than perfect change. Junior Hines of Cayman Islands got the baton at top speed whilst I only received it at half speed, giving him a couple of metres which I couldn’t quite make up. He held me off by 0.01sec meaning a couple of teachers probably had to apologise to their pupils for the appalling language of the man who only came 2^nd in the relay. Never mind, we still got an Island record of 41.80 and Glenn didn’t go mental at me for a poor change over like in Aland (this time it definitely wasn’t my fault?!).

The 4x400 was a formality, we thought. And it was. Leo ran steadily before Dale unleashed a little bit with the best performance of his Island Games with a fast relay leg. Eben (or Eeben, as the stadium announcer insisted on calling him[not Ingy]) ran brilliantly on our third leg to pass to me with a sizable lead, which allowed me to finish comfy without any drama. Nice.

Throughout the evening, people kept asking us about the football and how it went. We lost 4-2 after extra time, but I don’t think any of us are that fussed to be honest. Maybe they should ask us about our own sport where we did really well?!

The efforts of this final day took us to the top of the Medal Table for Athletics(total=9).

Overall it has been an enjoyable time, even if I was denied by one hundredth of a second on 2 occasions! GUTTED! I’ve also got to thank my lovely girlfriend Suzi for providing lifts to and from the track on a regular basis, without any unnecessarily scary speed involved. Thanks baby.

See you all soon, Tom.

Day 5

Concerns have been expressed about the lack of athletics being covered by this blog so we’ve had a team meeting and decided to make it more athletics based (“boring, boring, boring athletics”….El Presidente).

Up this morning were Mike B & Garlando in the 1500M heats both comfortably qualifying for tomorrows final.

There are concerns that Tom has lost a lot of stamina, he only seems to be able to run quickly for 150M before slowing down to the same speed as all the other runners – safely through. Eben has been superb, only narrowly failing to make the final with a 5^th in his semi (4 to qualify) only .4 of a second or so off 4^th.

Teresa ran a solid, successful semi but Emma has been laid low and had to withdraw soon after the start (to still be available for tomorrows relays she had to take the line…Championship Rules)…. team player of the day faw shaw.

Ingy’s highlight of the evening program came in the women’s 400M Hurdles… Don’t ask.

In the field, Karen Jehan was competing in the discus competition. She threw 23.92m, just short of her PB.

Glenn and Josh looked awesome in their 100M Semis. Both ran a good final, Josh finishing 4^th in 11.11 and Glenn 5^th in 11.13.

Controversy of the day came in the Women’s 800M Wrestling, which is a particular strength of the Scottish Islands, the leader, and first across the line, ran pretty much diagonally down the home straight for no other reason than to block the eventual winner Emma Leask. Sarah was in the battle for Bronze (4^th). If we can invoke the disqualification for “rightly standing your ground when you have no other option” rule 601.80 (Ingy’s been spending far too much time with officials) then Sarah’s up to bronze but…. Hey…we’re not like that.

In the 400m final, Tom ran dominantly to win in a time of 46.71, to Dale’s relief, missing his Island Games record by .01 of a second. Tom’s race was of great interest amongst the rest of the team… Congratulations to Ross for winning the sweepstake (making the closest guess of what time Tom would run, with a guess of 46.72).

In the women’s 200M final, Teresa ran yet another strong race in a competitive field, finishing 6^th in a time of 25.95.

WHAT HAPPENED LATER THIS EVENING

Firstly, a quick thank you to Louise for waiting until final 250m to blitz the Faroe athlete in the 10k tonight...makes me feel a whole lot better (this is Ronan, sabotaging Ingy's blog again by the way).

Today was a tough day. Sarah was struggling to complete the Rubix Cube. Steve D went to the Zoo again...brought a duck back for Sadie. Glenn refused to come down for a pint....Ben wasn't invited!(easy mistake Glen/Ben) Alun's record time from Fairway Athletics Track to Rookley Park was obliterated by Tom Druce's girlfriend.....who I imagine is a professional rally driver.

Most importantly, a fool proof theory wasn't put forward for calculating your 1,500m PB time by comparing it to your 800m best. Once universally accepted this theory will mean that running a 1,500m will be irrelevant as i already know what time you will run. Here we go - 800t x 2 + 4 x 3.75 - 4 = 1500t. Fool-proof!!

Finally....I've found the midnight club....sounded like there was a bit of karaoke going on.....didn't convince them that my version of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" was worth hearing.....gutted.

Night night Cilly. Ronan :)

What happened today

What happened in the morning.

Ingy gets creative and calls the Menorcan strip as teal.

Everyone qualified in the sprints (see every other day for examples ;-) ). We weren’t so fortunate in the women’s 800 but Sarah ran a superb PB to qualify. Natalie’s first experience of a tactical race will stand her in good stead as her middle distance career progresses.

What happened in the evening.

Ingy finally decides that the Menorcan strip is blue. Not teal, not cyan, but blue. Along with Shetland, The Western Isles, Alderney, Aland, the list goes on…

Cayman opened the long jump in exuberant style with a cry of ‘Hallelujah’, lots of clapping and 7m50 straight up. None of these antics phased Dale who came away with silver. He then moved straight on to the javelin from which he was unable to escape until both the evening’s distance races had finished.

Not wanting to disappoint Tom ‘is that the queue for breakfast?’ Druce, the women’s 10 proceeded at the stately pace of 93second laps for the majority of the race. We hope he was still watching by the last 300 when Louise gave the Faroes a taste of their own medicine. We suspect he wasn’t though ;-)

Obviously sibling rivalry then kicked in and Garland Senior matched his baby brother by taking silver in the ‘chase. Ben Wilen scuppered his chances of a PB by falling at the last hurdle. So close!

Tomorrow the sprint events dominate, with semis in the morning and finals in the evening but distance runners are kept sweet with a bit of middle distance excitement.

And as we close Bernie suggests Louise switches down to 200m. Ingy changes his mind. Electric blue.

Two days to go and I think that it’s time for a Presidential input. Frankly it’s all getting a bit boring. Lots of running round the track, listening to Ingy being a bit of a stato on the microphone and worrying about how I am going to get 29 athletes (and their ego’s) into a 7 seater car.

Of course we need to acknowledge the achievements of the likes of Lee, Glenn, Kylie and Louise for their gold medal performances – too often we take for granted how good they are but there is something very special about seeing our youngsters really rising to the challenge and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Josh has grown in stature with every event. Getting through the heats was his pre-game aim and he will now be disappointed if he doesn’t get on the podium for the 100m. Teresa looked the business in the 100m and yet she’s only 16 and Mike Batiste was an inspiration.

Of course two things have contributed to their success:

1. 1 The phenomenal breakfasts that I have cooked for the team every morning. Frankly they are unbelievable – sponsored by Forest Stores. Football have brought famous celebrity chef Tony Leck with them but word on the street is that my lightly cooked cheese and tomato omelette baked with a frisson of basil would win any cook-off. Bring it on. [I’ve tasted this and, to be honest, it’s a bit overrated – could do with a bit of black pepper – Ingy. Geoff’s assessment is a bit more extreme: “It was s**t, it tasted like at fried egg…and burnt at that”. But as Ingy always says, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.]

2. 2 - The gazebo. This was purchased at a knock-off garden shop round the corner from the track. It does look rather special but a bit flimsy – whether it will survive a Force 8 on L’Ancresse remains to be seen. The best thing when I bought it was that they only had them stocked in green and the Jersey cycle team had to buy one because of the threat of rain. It’s the little victories that count.

DAY 3 ROUND-UP

Only the one athletics session today but plenty of Guernsey interest right through the programme. It was two and a half hours of highs and lows for the Guernsey fans.

The evening began with Kyle receiving her 100m gold medal....and for 60 metres of the 100m hurdles final it looked like another gold was on its way. Not to be however as a misjudged 4th hurdle upset her stride and culminated in Kyle missing hurdle 6. That's what you get for running too fast!

Emma, reaching the 400m final in her first attempt ran a brave race in what was a high class affair...she'll be back for more Island Games i'm sure. And our 4x100m boys didn't let us down, finishing 2nd in the heats and comfortably qualifying for Friday's final.

And then we had Glenn and Leo in the 110m hurdles final. Another gold in the bag for the ginger dynamo in a PB to boot. From start to finish, there was always going to be only one winner....whoever said (very) white men can't jump!

The evening ended in probably the race of the week so far, an 800m final stacked with talent. Local favourite, Joe Wade, took the lead from the beginning, running the first lap in a blistering 51seconds...he wouldn't be caught. Not far behind Guernsey's Mike Batiste was steadily cutting through the field and looked like bagging the bronze medal only to be pipped on the line....his time of 1.55.59 was a massive PB and would have guaranteed a medal at any other Island Games. Great race.

Tomorrow see more heats in the morning and finals tomorrow evening with plenty of medal hopes for the Guernsey followers to cheer on.

Shock change of events for Kylie ?

Whilst most of us thought we saw Kylie take GOLD over 100mtrs on Monday night, it seems that CTV's caption writer saw things differently.