WESTERN ISLES ISLAND GAMES ASSOCIATION GAMES REPORT

The 2019 NatWest International Island Games was held in Gibraltar between the 6th – 12h July 2019 in what were our 8th Games. 22 mem-ber Islands competed, with Alderney not represented this time and Rhodes having had to resign their membership since the last Games. It is estimated that 2000 participants took part, which is lower than the previous two Games. This was largely due to the lack of bed space available in Gibraltar. Team Western Isles was again the leading Scottish Island on the medal table with 4 Golds, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals won in swimming and athletics. The team finished in 12th place overall in the medal table. The honour of the position of team Flag Bearer was given to Eve Carrington and our Water Carrier was Beth MacPhail. A total squad of 50 represented the Western Isles competing in 5 sports: athletics, badminton, cycling (road), shooting and swimming. Football, golf and mountain biking were not included in the Games.

34 competitors plus a support team of team managers, coaches, medical team, chaperones and management

19 females (56%); 15 males (44%)

94% island based

50% were under 21 years old

All medals won by females - for the second Games running The majority of the competitors were accommodated in what was previously a housing scheme for army families. This created a unique “Games Village” and was perfectly adequate for the team, which was spread across 7 houses. One house was for the medical team and they were able to set up a clinic with enough space to deal with physio/massage needs. The Games were well organised and the venues were all brand new and of a very high standard. All the venues (except for cycling and the half marathon) were within 25 mins walking distance from the accommodation. There was also a good Games bus service available. This meant that competitors were able to watch other sports easily when not competing. This is always appreciated. Kara Hanlon continued to dominate the women’s breaststroke, winning Gold and breaking the Games records in the 50m, 100m and 200m events. She also won gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m individual medley. A fantastic achievement. There were many other notable performances throughout the week. A few of the highlights were – Kevin Smith’s cycling time trial that fin-ished with a 5km cycle to the top of the Rock; 16 year old Marion McCorquodale’s 5th place in her first senior shot put event; Mary Macleod and Heather Mackinnon’s performances in the triple jump, winning silver and bronze respectively; the progress of the badminton team, competing for the first time at the Games; the commitment of the shooters in very challenging conditions; Isla Budge becoming the third athlete to have been supported through our local performance development programme for talented young athletes to medal status, win-ning bronze in the 400m freestyle. Most significant in our aim to provide the opportunity for young people to compete at international level was the number of personal bests and impressive performances produced by our up and coming young sports stars. The swimming squad alone had 32 PB ’s in 53 races. This is hugely encouraging and a credit to themselves, their coaches and everyone who supports them in their ambitions. Congratulations to all competitors, managers and committee members for making the Gibraltar Games a success as focus now turns to the NatWest International Island Games XIX Guernsey 2021. Huge thanks to our main sponsor, The Scottish Salmon Company, with whom we have developed a friendly and mutually beneficial rela-tionship over the past 4 years, and all others who supported our fund raising efforts to enable our talented athletes to attend the Games as affordably as possible.

CYCLING Kevin Smith

BADMINTON Paul Finnegan, David Fraser, Michael Jefferson, Kedar Paul, Lynsey Mackenzie, Beth MacPhail, Eilidh Morrison

CLAY SHOOTING Archibald Macvicar, Ruaraidh Macdonald, Donald MacInnes, Donald Walker, Iain Macleod

SWIMMING Isla Budge, Kara Hanlon, Matthew Hanlon, Mairi MacLennan, Katie Murray, Sophie Smith

ATHLETICS Eve Carrington, Mhairi Hall, Angela Horne, Trinity Johnson, Marion MacCorquodale, Sian Macdonald, Scott Maciver,

Heather MacKinnon, Katie Mackinnon, Connor Maclean, Eilidh Macleod, Mary Macleod, Donald Macmillan,

Michael Macmillan, Gemma Macritchie

MANAGEMENT Norman Macdonald - WIIGA Chair, Iain GG Campbell - General Team Manager Cllr Kenneth Macleod - Western Isles Council Representative

BADMINTON Team Manager: Paul Finnegan

The Gibraltar 2019 Games mark the first time a Western Isles Badminton Team has competed at an Island Games. Winning 5 matches and 12 games is the first time the Western Isles has won a Badminton match at an Island Games. Inspired by the achievements Paul Finnegan notes the need for a pathway and regular coaching for young players with ability. Having a team at the Games is having a positive effect in encouraging more people to want to participate in badminton. The team members are returning full of enthusiasm, keen to develop themselves and grow the numbers play-ing competitively both inter island and at mainland competitions. Our youngest com-petitor at the Games, 14 year old Beth Macleod, is another example of the talented youngsters we have living on the islands.

SWIMMING Team Managers: Davie Hanlon and Marilyn Hanlon

Six Western Isles swimmers competed in Gibraltar 2019. The team took part in 53 indi-vidual races achieving 32 personal bests, 3 games records, 4 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals. In the run up to the Games the team trained well maintaining good attendance at training sessions. Looking forward, 6 young swimmers from the Western Isles are now training alongside the swimmers who were in Gibraltar. The management team were keen to acknowledge the performances of the 2 debutants, Mairi Maclennan and Sophie Smith, who have benefitted enormously from the experience, it is hoped that they will be back competing in Guernsey 2021. The team expressed their gratitude for the support from local businesses – R Doig ltd, Ishga, Central Garage, DR Macleod Ltd, Charles Macleod Ltd, MTL Ltd and Swim Western isles and Nat West Grant.

SHOOTING Team Manager: Archie Macvicar

A team of five shooters attended the Gibraltar games. Four with experience from previ-ous games: Donald Walker, Archie MacVicar, Ruairidh MacDonald, Donald MacInnes and one new cap Iain Lava Macleod. Donald MI & Ruairidh shooting ABT, Iain and Don-ald W shooting Olympic Trap, Archie and Donald W shooting Olympic Skeet. Conditions in Gibraltar were to prove difficult with the strong sunlight reflecting from the sea com-bined with an unpredictable wind swirl and updraft altering the team’s expectations. Some good performances through the week with just a lack of consistency affecting overall placings.

ATHLETICS Team Managers: Seumas Mactaggart, Hamish Budge and

Eve Carrington Numerous excellent performances by this young squad, going beyond ex-pectation. Team spirit was high and generally supported each other, fantas-tic attribute of this team in particular. Mary MacLeod and Heather MacKin-non achieved two medals for the team. Silver for Mary (11.14m) and bronze for Heather (11.10m) in the triple jump. Other highlights from the competition are the many personal bests achieved by individual athletes. Marion McCor-quodale’s superb 5th place finish in the Shot Put, Eilidh MacLeod 59 sec for 400m narrowly missing on 3rd place. Angela Horne and Heather MacKinnon in the Long Jump with outdoor PBs of 5.24m and 5.17m. Donald MacMillan, Long Jump, 6.23m new PB was also a WI record. Eilidh MacLeod and Scott MacIver both progressed to the 200m semi-finals. Mhairi Hall and Katie MacKinnon both did extremely well in the 1/2 marathon, finishing 12th and 14th individually, and 6th in the team event. In the women 4 x 400m final another WI record had been broken,4.03.59 run and their splits were also stunning – Gemma 61.5; Eve 61.4; Mary 62.2 and Eilidh 58.3!

CYCLING Team Manager: Christina Mackenzie

Gibraltar games were the first Island games for our only cyclist representing the Western Isles - Kevin Smith. Reflecting on the experience, notwithstanding the lack of cycling manager at the Games, Kevin says that the actual performance matched the realistic expectations and he gave his everything in all 3 events he competed. Appreciating the experience and confidence gained Kevin is optimistic for the future. He had already started preparation by appointing a coach to put together a 2 year plan to opti-mise his performance. Talks with other potential competitors are also underway, one being a national 50m TT champion winning numerous TT’s this year smashing a number of records along the way. Going forward into next year, Kevin is hoping to have at least 2-3 meet ups with folk who are keen to go to Guernsey in 2021. Also, organising some classroom and practical racing lessons with ex pro-fessional cyclists in Inverness incorporating as part of the weekend get together.

WESTERN ISLES ISLAND GAMES ASSOCIATION

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

Kara Hanlon Swimming

100m Breaststroke

Kara Hanlon Swimming:

100m Individual Medley

Kara Hanlon Swimming

200m Breaststroke

Kara Hanlon Swimming

50m Breaststroke

Heather Marie MacKinnon Athletics

Triple Jump Women

Isla Budge Swimming

400m Freestyle

Mary Macleod Athletics

Triple Jump Women

Kara Hanlon Swimming

200m Individual Medley

WIIGA FINANCIAL SUMMARY

Costs

Travel £111,000

Accommodation £23,000

Kit £12,000

Preparation Costs £2,000

Other (insurance, accreditation, etc…) £4,000

Total Costs £152,000

Income

Competitors / Official Contribution £31,500

Supporters / Press £8,600

ADS Rebate £54,975

Sponsorship £25,550

Donations / Grants £24,379

WIIGA Funds £6,996

Total Income £152,000