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Archived News Isle of Wight 2011 News
Archived News Isle of Wight 2011 News
2011 IoW
The 2011 Island Games in the Isle of Wight is now over.
To re-live the news articles written during the games, visit our IOW News page
To listen again to the radio interviews, visit our IOW Audio Page
To look at the many images of our team in action, visit our IOW Gallery
Today, which might have been expected to be a kind of 'run-down for also rans' has actually been much more positive, causing this writer to wonder whether the Falkland Islands competitors at the next Island Games might have justifiable reason for raising their expectations. Of course, it may still be overly ambitious to hope to end up among the medal winners like the various Channel Islands or the Faroes - who take part in the World Cup, for goodness sake - but there is no doubt that gaps in performance levels between ourselves and these Island Games super stars are closing.
Today we headed first to the Shanklin and Sandown Golf Club in the hopes of seeing the Falkland Islands men repeat their record-breaking day of yesterday. That success, with three out of four of our men scoring less than 80 was on the open spaces of the Freshwater Club's links course. Today, at Sandown the players faced a kind of challenge that the Stanley course does not prepare them for, namely trees, everywhere.
Maybe because the weather was a bit more like what we are used to in the Falklands, at least in terms of its variability from sunshine to showers and the occasional thunder storm, today, Tuesday was on the whole a very good day for our competitors in the Nat West Island Games and maybe, in the case of the men's golf team, the best ever for a single day in this competition, with three players getting round the Freshwater course in under 80.
Monday morning, and the mist which had wrapped the Isle of Wight since we arrived had lifted giving us the benefit of the sun and the highest temperatures of the English summer so far. It was clearly a day for lying back and not doing very much. This luxury was however denied to our lone swimmer and youngest competitor in the Nat West Island Games, 
The difficulties facing a small country, which has the temerity to engage in sporting competitions against islands with larger populations are many and obvious. Some of the 24 islands represented at the Nat West Island Games may be small in size, but part of much larger countries with developed sporting traditions and facilities. 
The first event of the Nat West Island Games on the Isle of Wight was the Half Marathon, which saw the Falkland Islands team acquitting themselves well against a field that included some runners, of international standard, like Guernsey's Lee Merrien, the eventual winner in a time of 1 hour, 8 minutes and 36 seconds.
While it is too early to say, how it will all end, after all the trials and tribulations that the Falkland Islands team endured to get here, it is a relief to be able to report that the opening of the 2011 Nat West Island Games on the Isle of Wight went off in spectacular fashion.More Articles...
