Rachael Franklin approaches the bell during the women's 800m Final. The race was sensationally won in a photo finish by 15 year old Emma Leask of Shetland (blue kit)
The Golden Girls!! Sarah Dowling, Ciara McDonnell, Danielle Ross and Harriet Pryke joyfully explain to Manx Radio's Tim Glover how they not only won the gold medal but also shattered the IOM record in the 4x100m relay final...
A glorious sight! The Manx flag flies proudly during the medal ceremony for the 'Golden Girls'.
A great performance too from the lads to win silver in the 4x100m relay. Peter Richardson, Ben Brand, Thomas Riley and Michael Haslett celebrate, while the Guernsey athletes in the background comes to terms with their team's disqualification.
Ed Gumbley pictured in the early stages of the Half Marathon. He was the first of the IOM runners to finish, in 10th place.
Darren Gray pictured in the same place, on his way to an 11th place finish. Yes, this race really was in Aland despite the Manx vehicle in the background! 
Kevin Loundes started strongly but his recent illness proved too much for him to overcome. He showed great determination to complete the course in 12th place.
Gail Griffiths had a great run to finish 7th in the women's Half Marathon. Despite giving it her all, she still found time to smile for cameraman Anthony Brand as she passed through the stadium halfway though the race!
Fox on a Bike! For the first time since his debut in 1987, Andy Fox was not a competitor in the Games, but still completed most of the Half Marathon course very stylishly!
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It was hectic to say the least on the final day of the athletics competition on Friday. There were individual events, field events, relays, medal ceremonies - and the Half Marathon was going on at the same time as well! I tried to cover every event involving our athletes on video (including the medal ceremonies) and I think I succeeded although I would like to have seen more of the Half Marathon. By the end of the session I felt like I had run a Half Marathon myself!
One thing changed dramatically on Friday and that was the weather. After the heat and humidity of the previous days, the day dawned cloudy and cool - and just as I arrived at the stadium the heavens opened for a few minutes. This was good news for the distance runners, but perhaps not for the relay competitors who would have had to contend with a wet baton if the rain had continued. Fortunately it stopped after a few minutes.
The first event of the day was the women's 800 metres Final, in which Rachael Franklin had high hopes of success after her superb silver medal winning performance in the 1500 metres earlier in the week. She gave it absolutely everything as she always does, but this was perhaps a race too far for her after a demanding week. She did everything right on the first lap, staying on the shoulder of the race favourite Eilidh Mackenzie of the Western Islands, but on this occasion she was unable to respond when the pace lifted on the second lap, eventually finishing 5th. Rachael was desperately disappointed afterwards, but her time will surely come in this event in future Island Games.
The 4x100m relays were next, and first to go were the women. The team of Danielle Ross, Sarah Dowling, Ciara McDonnell and Harriet Pryke had previously run together 3 times, all in the past 3 weeks. On each occasion they have posted times close to the IOM record, and they started the race with the added pressure of being clear favourites for the gold medal. And this was the crunch - could they possibly do it in an Island Games Final when it really mattered? You bet your life they could!! What an awesome performance by all 4 girls. Every changeover was perfect, and Harriet blitzed the anchor leg to take the team to the gold medal in a sensational time of 48.56 seconds, winning by a very convincing margin of 0.98 of a second from the very talented Jersey quartet. Not only was this a golden performance in every sense, it also shattered the 14-year-old IOM record of 49.03 by nearly half a second - a big margin over 400 metres. When you look at the calibre of the team that set that record in Gibraltar in 1995 (Cheryl Done, Danaa Myhill, Julie Moore, Jane Ryder) you realise what an awesome performance this was by Danielle, Sarah, Ciara and Harriet. They can truly be called the 'Golden Girls' and it was an absolute privilege to be there to witness it.
Next up was the men's 4x100m relay, featuring Michael Haslett, Ben Brand, Peter Richardson and Thomas Riley - and what a performance they produced too! The changeovers looked as close to perfect as you could wish for and the team stormed home in 3rd place behind the extremely strong quartets from the Cayman Islands and Guernsey. The news quickly got even better with the disqualification of Guernsey for what looked like a final baton changeover beyond the box, lifting the Manx lads into the silver medal position. Their time of 42.77 was just 0.26 of a second outside the IOM record of 42.51 set in Gibraltar in 1995 by the very powerful team of Gordon Crowe, Alistair Audsley, Kevin Furlong and Paul Bergquist. A great performance by the lads.
Then came the Half Marathon, and it was a strange format and unusual course layout. The race started on the track before heading out onto a 'figure of 8' course of about 10k which was completed twice. At the halfway point of the race the runners came back into the stadium and ran up the home straight in front of the stand before heading out onto their second lap. The race finished on the track. The course mainly used the cycle paths running alongside the roads, but part of the course used a gravel track – you could almost call it a multi-terrain course. There were 4 main feeding stations, which were actually all in the same place – the crossover of the 'figure of 8'. All very unusual, and Marit and Gemma had a busy time keeping the 4 IOM competitors fed and watered throughout the race.
There were high hopes that the men's team could land a medal in the team event, with Kevin Loundes also challenging for an individual medal – but things didn't go according to plan. Kevin started well, and for a few kilometres was in the chasing pack behind the runaway leader Janne Holmen (former European Marathon champion), but quickly succumbed to his recent illness. He had to stop on two occasions, but bravely soldiered on to complete the course in 12th place. Kev has worked so hard over the past 2 years and achieved so much success and it was cruel luck to pick up a debilitating illness so close to the Games. He deserves much better luck in 2 years' time.
Both Ed Gumbley and Darren Gray found the course really tough going, as did many of the athletes throughout the field, and recorded times several minutes down on their best despite giving it their all. They finished 10th and 11th respectively. Indeed, the vast majority of the runners were significantly down on their usual times, suggesting it was a tough course.
One athlete who bucked this trend, however, was Gail Griffiths, who produced a superb run to finish 7th in the women's race in a time only 52 seconds outside her pb. She ran really strongly throughout, and not only looked in complete control but looked like she was enjoying herself too! She ran a very even-paced race despite having few other runners to work with and tag onto. Her 2 years of absolute dedication since Rhodes have paid off with two excellent performances in Aland.
The second part of the final day's action will appear in a separate entry, and will report on more superb performances to round off a great week.
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