Top: Typical determination from Darren Gray during the 2009 Easter Festival Relay on Douglas Promenade (photo: Murray Lambden). Bottom: Ben Brand pictured after running the last leg of the 4x400m Relay final in Rhodes in 2007 (photo: Caroline Brand)
The two most experienced members of the men’s team in terms of previous Island Games appearances are distance runner/steeplechaser Darren Gray and sprinter/long jumper Ben Brand. Both will be competing in their third Island Games.
The ’Foxdale Flyer’ Darren Gray made his Games debut in Guernsey in 2003, producing a terrific performance in the 3000m steeplechase to finish just out of the medals in 4th place. In Shetland 2 years later, he moved up to the Half Marathon, and although a novice at the distance he was part of the silver medal winning team along with John Halligan and Andy Fox. Indeed it was Darren’s last-ditch sprint finish to overhaul Guernsey’s Lee Garland (an athlete who has had many a battle with the Isle of Man’s finest) in the final 100 metres that turned what would have been bronze medals for the team into silvers. It was a moment I remember very well from the Shetland Games of 2005.
Darren’s form dipped somewhat over the following 3 years, and he missed out on selection for the 2007 Games in Rhodes. After a slightly disappointing track season in 2008 Darren had a really poor run by his standards in the Peel Heritage Trail run last August which severely dented his confidence, and it would be fair to say that his athletics career was at a definite crossroads at that stage. Since then he has responded magnificently. Over the past winter and into the 2009 track season Darren has found his best-ever form, his hard work and gritty determination being rewarded with an excellent cross country season and a series of pb times on both road and track over many different distances.
Darren has been helped by being part of Andy Fox’s training group who are often as competitive in training as they are in races! A few weeks ago he managed to out-run Kevin Loundes on the final 400m rep of a tough session – and not many can claim to have done that over the past year or so! I can see no reason why Darren’s great improvement over the past year can’t continue and I think his best is still to come. Now aged 28, he will be contesting the Half Marathon and 3000m steeplechase events in Aland , and can look forward confidently to performing well in both. Darren will feel at home in Aland as he is used to visiting the Baltic!!
Also making his third Island Games appearance is the multi-talented Ben Brand. Perhaps Ben’s biggest problem as an athlete is being such a natural in so many disciplines of the sport that probably no-one, Ben included, quite knows which his best event is! Over the past few years he has achieved Island Games selection guideline performances in about 7 different events, which tells its own story. If only there was a multi-event competition in the Island Games!
Ben made his Island Games debut in Shetland in 2005 at the age of 16, and performed brilliantly. He finished 5th in the 800m in a time of 2.02 on what I recall was a cold and windy day, and did even better to finish 4th in the 400m in 50.67 – just 0.2 of a second behind the bronze medalist. During 2006 and the early part of 2007, Ben made spectacular progress in both the 400m and 800m, shattering some long-standing age group Manx records in the process. All seemed set for a cracking Island Games in Rhodes in 2007, but sadly it was not to be. A calf strain sustained during one of the first training sessions on arrival in Rhodes ruled Ben out of all his events until the very last day of competition. He recovered sufficiently to run a cracking last leg in the 4x400m relay final, in which the team missed both the bronze medal and the senior IOM record by about a second, but it was small consolation.
Since 2007, Ben’s athletics career has changed direction slightly, and he is now concentrating very much on the sprint events rather than middle distance. He will be one of the team’s busiest athletes in Aland as he is entered in the 100m, 200m, 400m, both relays and the Long Jump! He will surely have to sacrifice at least one of those (probably the 100m) to give himself the best chance of success. Ben will be looking to claim his first Island Games medal this year, and his best chance is likely to be in the relays where the team looks strong in both events.
6 days to go…
The two most experienced members of the men’s team in terms of previous Island Games appearances are distance runner/steeplechaser Darren Gray and sprinter/long jumper Ben Brand. Both will be competing in their third Island Games.
The ’Foxdale Flyer’ Darren Gray made his Games debut in Guernsey in 2003, producing a terrific performance in the 3000m steeplechase to finish just out of the medals in 4th place. In Shetland 2 years later, he moved up to the Half Marathon, and although a novice at the distance he was part of the silver medal winning team along with John Halligan and Andy Fox. Indeed it was Darren’s last-ditch sprint finish to overhaul Guernsey’s Lee Garland (an athlete who has had many a battle with the Isle of Man’s finest) in the final 100 metres that turned what would have been bronze medals for the team into silvers. It was a moment I remember very well from the Shetland Games of 2005.
Darren’s form dipped somewhat over the following 3 years, and he missed out on selection for the 2007 Games in Rhodes. After a slightly disappointing track season in 2008 Darren had a really poor run by his standards in the Peel Heritage Trail run last August which severely dented his confidence, and it would be fair to say that his athletics career was at a definite crossroads at that stage. Since then he has responded magnificently. Over the past winter and into the 2009 track season Darren has found his best-ever form, his hard work and gritty determination being rewarded with an excellent cross country season and a series of pb times on both road and track over many different distances.
Darren has been helped by being part of Andy Fox’s training group who are often as competitive in training as they are in races! A few weeks ago he managed to out-run Kevin Loundes on the final 400m rep of a tough session – and not many can claim to have done that over the past year or so! I can see no reason why Darren’s great improvement over the past year can’t continue and I think his best is still to come. Now aged 28, he will be contesting the Half Marathon and 3000m steeplechase events in Aland , and can look forward confidently to performing well in both. Darren will feel at home in Aland as he is used to visiting the Baltic!!
Also making his third Island Games appearance is the multi-talented Ben Brand. Perhaps Ben’s biggest problem as an athlete is being such a natural in so many disciplines of the sport that probably no-one, Ben included, quite knows which his best event is! Over the past few years he has achieved Island Games selection guideline performances in about 7 different events, which tells its own story. If only there was a multi-event competition in the Island Games!
Ben made his Island Games debut in Shetland in 2005 at the age of 16, and performed brilliantly. He finished 5th in the 800m in a time of 2.02 on what I recall was a cold and windy day, and did even better to finish 4th in the 400m in 50.67 – just 0.2 of a second behind the bronze medalist. During 2006 and the early part of 2007, Ben made spectacular progress in both the 400m and 800m, shattering some long-standing age group Manx records in the process. All seemed set for a cracking Island Games in Rhodes in 2007, but sadly it was not to be. A calf strain sustained during one of the first training sessions on arrival in Rhodes ruled Ben out of all his events until the very last day of competition. He recovered sufficiently to run a cracking last leg in the 4x400m relay final, in which the team missed both the bronze medal and the senior IOM record by about a second, but it was small consolation.
Since 2007, Ben’s athletics career has changed direction slightly, and he is now concentrating very much on the sprint events rather than middle distance. He will be one of the team’s busiest athletes in Aland as he is entered in the 100m, 200m, 400m, both relays and the Long Jump! He will surely have to sacrifice at least one of those (probably the 100m) to give himself the best chance of success. Ben will be looking to claim his first Island Games medal this year, and his best chance is likely to be in the relays where the team looks strong in both events.
6 days to go…
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