The highlight of this evening's action at the stadium was another silver medal for Harriet Pryke, this time in the 200 metres. This is the eighth medal for the team so far, and we have plenty of further chances of success on the final day of competition tomorrow. I think we have very realistic hopes of 6 or 7 more medals in tomorrow's events.
The night got off to a good start with Gemma Astin collecting her richly deserved bronze medal for yesterday's 5000 metres. Next, we had last night's Hammer gold medalist Marit Zahkna in action again in the Discus final. In a very close competiton, Marit finished 5th with a best throw of 34.18 metres. This was a good performance, but Marit is her own harshest critic and was deeply disappointed not to collect another medal. Her target of 36 metres plus would have won bronze. Nevertheless Marit has been a great addition to the team and has been a most popular team member. I think her Dad (who doesn't speak a word of English!) has been overwhelmed by the support she has had from the Isle of Man contingent. He was proudly sporting a TT cap at the stadium tonight!
Thomas Riley was next to go in what was expected to be a very close 100 metres final. So it proved, with Tom very disappointed to finish in 5th place. Only 0.27 of a second separated the entire field, with the winner recording precisely the same time as Tom ran to win the silver medal in Rhodes 2 years ago. He has the relays to look forward to tomorrow and will play a big part in both.
Harriet Pryke and Sarah Dowling followed in the 200 metres final, both coming into the final in terrific form. Harriet again ran a blinder to win her second silver medal of the week, shattering her pb yet again with a superb time of 25.20. She finished just 0.12 of a second behind the hugely talented Gemma Dawkins of Jersey who completed a 200m/400m double. Sarah Dowling finished 5th, producing another excellent run for a time of 25.80, a fraction outside her pb set in this morning's semi-final. Sarah said she was slow out of the blocks and was disappointed with the result, but she has had a magnificent week so far with the relays to follow tomorrow.
The final event with IOM interest was the final of the men's 400 metres, in which Ben Brand came within a whisker of landing his first Island Games medal. He produced a run full of determination and style, and only just failed to chase down the Rhodes athlete in the bronze medal position. The men's 400 metres has been very strong in recent Games, and to get so close to a medal was a really fine performance. Ben has had an excellent week so far and richly deserves to cap the week off with medals in the relays tomorrow. I really hope his performances will give him the encouragement to go on to even bigger and better things over the next 2 years and beyond.
Tomorrow is the final day of athletics, and there is lots of IOM interest. First off is Rachael Franklin in the 800m final, followed by the women's and men's 4x100m relay finals. At 12.05pm the Half Marathons start in the stadium before heading out onto a loop round the streets of Mariehamn. The course takes the runners back through the home straight of the track halfway through the race before heading out onto a second lap, finishing in the stadium again. A strange arrangement! We have Kevin Loundes, Darren Gray and Ed Gumbley in the men's race, in which we should be very strong in the team race. Gail Griffiths is in the women's race, and will go into the race in confident mood after her excellent 6th place in the 10000 metres on Monday. I really hope for all the Half Marathon runners' sakes that the temperature drops a bit tomorrow! While the Half Marathon is in progress the two 4x400m relays will take place, followed by the final event - the men's 1500 metres in which Andy Duncan will be hoping to build on his fine performance in this morning's heat.
Then everyone can party!!
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