Sun, sea, sand and surfing - and athletics soon!

It's another glorious day – at least for spectators, perhaps not for competitors! Once again there is not a cloud in the sky and it is very, very warm. I didn't think for a moment when checking on the weather in Aland over the past couple of weeks that it would be anything like this.

After a fairly late breakfast I headed up to the stadium about 20 minutes into the opening men's football match between Aland and Greenland. By half time, Aland were 3-0 up despite Greenland playing some good football and actually having more of the ball. Early in the second half Aland went 4-0 up with a great goal that I managed to capture on video – an inch-perfect left wing cross being met with a flying header into the top corner. This was really harsh on Greenland,and to their credit they kept playing good football and were rewarded by pulling 2 goals back, the one in the last few seconds being a goal of real quality. There was a good crowd – about 1000 I would guess.

At half time I went to have a look at the 3 tennis matches being played on the courts just behind the stadium, one of which featured one of the IOM men. Here I met Darren Gray and Andy Duncan who had arrived for a training session, which they did on the many cinder paths that run through the surrounding parkland. Darren is competing tomorrow night so only did a short easy run, but Andy doesn't compete until later in the week so did a longer run with a few efforts included.

After the football finished I wandered down to the nearby beach where the sailing and windsurfing events are taking place. The best option seemed to be to grab a deckchair and lounge around on the beach for an hour or so, so that's exactly what I did! The only thing that isn't Mediterranean here at the moment is the sea – I went for a paddle and it was very cold. That didn't deter several hardy souls though!

The athletics starts tonight at 6pm local time (4pm at home), and first in action are young debutants Ciara McDonnell and Danielle Ross in the 100m heats. There is one final tonight, the men's 10000 metres including Kevin Loundes and Ed Gumbley. Best of luck to all – I hope to be able to report good news later this evening.