I devoted last night's entry to Keith Gerrard's magnificent gold medal winning performance in the men's 5000 metres event, so will now take the opportunity to catch up with the rest of last night's action.
The first event on the track was the final of the men's 400 metres hurdles, in which Michael Haslett was hopeful of landing his first individual Games medal. This was the highest quality 400 metres hurdles race in Island Games history, and although Mikey ran well and gave it everything he had, he had to settle for fifth place in a time of 54.55. The winner, James Forman from the Isle of Wight, smashed the Games record with a superb time of 50.41, and all three medallists ran sub-52 which is exceptionally classy running. Mikey was disappointed afterwards as he had a very personal reason for wanting to win a medal, but he did himself and his family proud. I have absolutely no doubt that he will get that medal before long.
At the bottom end of the arena the men's Shot final was starting, and this featured two of our Games debutants Richard Bell and Lee Corlett. This is not the strongest event for either of them, but both performed creditably against high-class opponents. Lee finished sixth with a best putt of 11.13 metres, just short of his pb, while Richard was eighth with his best putt of 9.74 metres being a new pb. The winner Zane Duquemin of Jersey beat the Games record with a brilliant putt of over 17 metres.
Next on the track came the semi-finals of the women's 100 metres, with Sarah Halligan running in the second race. She gave it everything and finished very strongly, but was not quite able to break into a high enough position to qualify for the final. She finished sixth in a time of 12.82. In the later final, Guernsey's Kylie Robilliard became the latest athlete to claim a new Games record, beating Kelly Sotherton's 1997 record with a superb 11.94 clocking.
Next up was the women's 1500 metres final in which Rachael Franklin fancied her chances of a second successive medal and Gemma Astin was looking to overcome recent problems with a solid run. It soon became clear that the race was going to develop into a tactical battle when the first lap was run in a very sedate 78 seconds. Nobody was prepared to really take it on, and the ten athletes ran the first 1000 metres in a tight bunch. Only approaching the bell did the field start to break up a little and it was then a case of who had the greatest finishing speed. It was the experienced duo of Eilidh Mackenzie (Western Isles) and Claire Wilson (Jersey, formerly Shetland) who hit the front, and after a final sprint it was Mackenzie who had the greatest speed to retain her title from 2009. Rachael finished like a train, but left her effort just too late and was edged out of fourth place by a millimetre. Gemma also finished very strongly to finish eighth and can take heart from this performance going into the 5000 metres final. Only three seconds separated the first eight athletes, and even the final finisher ran a time that would have won a medal in the not too distant past.
The men's 5000 metres final has already been covered in detail, so the final event with Manx interest was the women's 400 metres semi-final in which Harriet Pryke and Ciara McDonnell were drawn together in race one. Harriet has been in great form this season, and she underlined it again with a run of great style and authority, winning by over two seconds with a time of 56.41 without stretching herself. She was also nearly two seconds faster than the winner of the second semi, and will start as favourite for the gold medal in tonight's final. Ciara McDonnell finished fourth in the same race as Harriet, starting really strongly before fading a little in the closing stages. She finished in a respectable time of 61.80, but this was not good enough to make the final. Ciara has great talent as a 400m runner and with better luck with injuries I think she has a good chance of making her mark in future Island Games.
Tonight should be really exciting. The programme kicks off at 6pm with the women's Shot final, with Louise Kneen and Charlotte Christian representing the Isle of Man. We then have the heats of the men's 4x100m relay (the women's event is a straight final on Friday) followed by the women's 100 metres hurdles in which Hannah Riley makes her long-awaited Games comeback. The men's discus final follows with Lee Corlett and Richard Bell, and then Tom Riley goes in the men's 110 metres hurdles final having gained a late entry. The evening finishes with the women's 400 metres final (Harriet Pryke) and the men's 800 metres final (Ryan Fairclough). It promises to be a really exciting evening and I am optimistic that there will be some Manx successes to report later.
A selection of photos from yesterday's action will follow shortly.
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