On a glorious sunny evening, there was a good crowd at the Sandown track creating an excellent atmosphere. The first track events were the women's 100 metres heats in which Ciara McDonnell and Sarah Halligan went for the Isle of Man. Ciara was in Heat 1, and unfortuntely did not make it through to the semi-finals, finishing sixth in a time of 13.86. Ciara has been unfortunate to pick up an injury at absolutely the wrong time a couple of months ago and her training has been severely restricted as a result. She still has plenty more this week though with the 400 metres and both relays and I am sure things will get better. Sarah went in Heat 3, and qualified comfortably for the next round in a time of 13.05. She did not get a great start, but looked very comfortable and has plenty more to come.
Two field events started simultaneously and featured Games debutants Daniel Stewart-Clague in the High Jump and Richard Bell in the Shot. Daniel performed well to finish in eighth place with a best jump of 1.80 metres, achieving comfortable clearances at three heights. The highlight of the competition was a great performance by Jersey jumper Simon Phelan who won the event with a clearance of 2.10 metres, which I think is the second best jump in the history of the Games after the Isle of Man's Martin Aram's 2003 mark of 2.13m. Phelan had three attempts at 2.14m but was unsuccessful.
In the men's Hammer event, Richard Bell made an excellent Games debut with a very consistent set of throws. His best effort of 42.55 metres was a new pb by over a metre and gave him an excellent seventh place finish, not far behind the fifth and sixth place competitors. There was another spectacular display from Great Britain's number one Andy Frost, who won yet another gold medal for the Isle of Wight with 70.61 metres.
Next up were the men's 200 metres heats, with Tom Riley representing the Isle of Man. Tom had no problems qualifying for the semi-final with a comfortable second place finish in Heat 3 in 22.62. He looked in complete control of his race and seemed to have plenty in hand.
The final events with Manx interest were the men's 800 metres heats. Andy Barron went in Heat 2, which was extremely fast on the first lap. Andy worked very hard but was unable to close the gap on high-class opposition, finishing sixth in 2.02.09. However the good news is that this was still good enough to progress to tomorrow morning's semi-finals as one of the fastest losers. Andy was disappointed with his run afterwards, but I think he was being hard on himself. He has another opportunity tomorrow morning, and still has his best event the 1500 metres to come. Ryan Fairclough went in Heat 3, and after a relatively sedate first lap Ryan forced the pace in the second 400 metres and came home in a comfortable third place looking well in control.
After an interminable delay we finally had the medal ceremonies for the Half Marathon - it was just a shame that most of the crowd had gone home by then. However the lack of numbers were more than compensated by the racket the Manx support made in the small stand by the track in honour of the Half Marathon heroes! It was a great moment to see Hannah and Gail picking up their gold medals in the team event, and the lads picking up their silvers (in Kev's case the individual silver too!). Really well done to all!
Here are a selection of photos from the evening.
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| Kevin gets greedy and claims not one but two silver medals! |
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| And here is what they look like closer up. |
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| Hannah and Gail jubilant on the podium... |
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| ...and proudly show off their gold medals afterwards! |
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This is what winning Island Games medals does to you!
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| Ryan Fairclough was happy with his run in the 800m heats... |
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| ...and Richard Bell was rightly pleased with seventh place in the Hammer and a new pb |
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