Day 1 report

Note - video footage of Ciara McDonnell and Danielle Ross has now been added to the previous entry. I'm quite proud of myself for working out how to do it!

Well, it's gone midnight, and I've had a couple of beers at Games Street and am now enjoying a generous Talisker in my room, so forgive me if there are any typos!

The evening began with the women's 100m heats, featuring the two youngest members of the Manx team Ciara McDonnell and Danielle Ross. I don't think I have ever seen two more nerveless debutants! They took everything in their stride and ran superbly. Ciara was 3rd in Heat 2 in a time of 12.83, a big pb. Danielle was in Heat 3, and after a false start by another competitor she was fast out of the blocks to finish 3rd in 12.82. The first 2 in each heat and the 6 fastest losers go into the semis, and our girls were 6th and 7th fastest overall. A wonderful start to their Island Games careers.

Next were the men's 200m heats, and a similar story there. There were 5 heats, and rather unusually the qualifiers for the semis were the 5 winners and 7 fastest losers. Ben Brand was in Heat 1, and finished 2nd in a pb of 22.77 - despite momentarily easing off when he thought it was the first 2 to qualify! Thankfully this was not a costly mistake and he qualified for the semis. Tom Riley made easy work of Heat 4, winning in an excellent time of 22.11. This is a pb with electronic timing (he has gone slightly faster with manual timing) and he eased off signifigantly in the last 20 or 30 metres. Tom has had a slight worry with a hamstring strain over the past week or so but reported no problems tonight, and he made it look easy.

The first track Final, the men's 10000m, was next, and there were high hopes of a medal-winning start for the IOM. This race featured Aland's greatest ever athlete Janne Holmen, and his presence in the Island Games (possibly for the first time?) ensured a huge local support and a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium. Initially the Jersey athlete went with him, but he soon dropped off the pace and was being hunted down by Kevin Loundes and Dawes of Guernsey. After a few laps they caught him and the battle for the silver seemed wide open, but sadly Kevin's recent illness caught up with him and he soon dropped back. He showed great determination to defend 4th place with a strong last lap but he was inconsolable afterwards. Ed Gumbley also found it hard going in the heat but performed with typical guts and determination to finish 10th. He must be wondering if he will ever get a cool day in the Island Games! The winning time was a new Games record, but most of the field found it hard going. I hope it is cooler for the Half Marathon on Friday, which starts at 12 noon - and indeed for Gail in the women's 10000m Final tomorrow night.

In the women's Long Jump qualifying, Hollie Bass was pleased to get through to the Final with a best jump (of 3) of 4.84m. Hollie is concentrating very much on the High Jump these days so this was a decent effort. She also had problems with her run up tonight, so if she can get this sorted she will hope to better her pb of 5.12m in the Final tomorrow.

The final event with Manx interest was the women's 1500m heats, with Gemma Astin and Rachael Franklin both in Heat 1. The pace on the first 2 laps was extremely slow, and Rachael was clearly itching to take it on, while Gemma was happy to keep a watching brief halfway back. On the 3rd lap the two Manx girls increased the pace and split the field, and by the last lap they were out on their own. They both recorded 4.55, which is very decent given that they were on around 5.10 pace for the first half of the race. They both looked very comfortable, and this will have done Gemma's confidence the world of good after a difficult year when she has been unable to compete much. Both she and Rachael will be very competitive in the Final.

Back to the track at 11am tomorrow.