So, what sort of place are we going to for the Island Games next month? I have done a bit of research on the Aland islands, and the constitutional position is unusual and a bit confusing! It is politically and geographically part of Finland, but is culturally much more closely tied to Sweden. The majority of the travel links are also from Sweden, and Swedish is the first language. Confused? Yes, me too!
If you are interested in reading up on Aland and its capital Mariehamn, these are useful links:
Perhaps the link the competitors and supporters will be most interested in is the official website for the 2009 Island Games.This is:
Population-wise it is very similar to Shetland where the Games were held in 2005, although the capital Mariehamn is about 50% bigger than Shetland's capital Lerwick. Another similarity with Shetland is the latitide of approximately 60 degrees north, although the climate in the summer months is usually much more pleasant! The islands claim to have longer hours of sunshine than anywhere else in the Baltic Sea, and it can get very warm at times in the summer despite the northerly latitude. In midsummer when the Games are on, it will barely get dark overnight. On a clear night it will still be half-light at midnight and there will be no more than about an hour of darkness.
Everyone I know who went Aland for the 1991 Island Games said the same - that it was a lovely place with friendly and welcoming people, and that the Games were very well-organised. Andy Fox often makes reference to the fact that athletics was probably the central sport of the Games in 1991 with big and very knowledgeable crowds every day at the stadium - the people in that part of the world really do love athletics. The stadium is also home to the local football club IFK Mariehamn who play in the Finnish Premier League, and play in front of crowds of up to 4000. The 6-lane athletics track is very close to the stand, creating a great atmosphere when there is a big crowd.
No more time tonight - I will continue with this in a day or two. I'll sign off with a couple more web links, to the BBC weather forecast for Mariehamn, and a live webcam overlooking Mariehamn's western harbour:
On the left hand side of the webcam page there are a couple of links you can click on to see a 60-second snapshot of 24 hours from the webcam - this shows how little darkness there is now, and there will be even less next month!
No comments:
Post a Comment