IOW FINAL DAY ROUND UP

Here in the Isle of Wight it is past midnight and most of the Falkland Islands contingent have now made their way back to their accommodation after a final ceremony and party in Cowes. The proceedings began with a carnival procession, as in the opening ceremony,. Mercifully this time the procession was not as long, because almost everybody is now very, very tired after what has been a long hot week.

While the big teams like badminton and football have had the day off, some stalwarts have been competing today:

Most heroically, after running the half marathon on Sunday, Martin Collins took to the track again today to compete in the 10,000 metres. Before the race he announced that he would be happy not to come last, very happy to beat 37 minutes and satisfied to beat 40 minutes. Once again this proved to be a classic case of Falkland Islands understatement; as he came home in 36 minutes, 56.54 seconds, and in 19^th place out of 21 runners. .

On the golf links at Freshwater, Sarah Bowles finished her fourth and final round, with an outstanding score of 343, putting her in 17^th overall position in the women's competition. This total beats the record total of 395 established by Sharon Jaffray in the Isle of Man in 2001. Sarah's best individual round was 85, which also broke Sharon Jaffray's 2001 record of 93. Carole Lee, who admitted she hadn't had such a good competition, finished in 41^st place, with a score of 414.

In the men's golf competition Troyd Bowles was also in record beating form with a total score of 319, which put him into 38^th position overall. The previous record was set by team mate Glenn Ross, who this time finished 41^st with a score of 327, including his new Falklands record of 75 for a single round. Kevin Clapp finished 48^th, with a score off 337 and Ian Stewart finished 55^th, with a score of 361.

As a team, the Falklands men came in 12^th place out of 18 countries, unfortunately though, the Alderney team just beat them for the gold golfing certificate issued to the smallest of islands, by a margin of only two points. They were still, though, miles ahead of the Froyan and St Helenian teams.

Lone skeet shooter Mathew Vincent equipped himself very well today, achieving his best round of the competition of 17 points. He finished in 20^th position, with 68 points in total in a field of 24 competitors. This was a very pleasing result for him.

 Saul Pitaluga had early trouble in the Universal Trap shooting, starting off with 18, but an improved final round score of 20 left him with 94 points, and in 20^th position on the leader board. Bono McKay didn't quite match his 20 point top score from yesterday, with one round of 19, and one of 18, leaving him with a total of 91, and 22^nd place.

For most of the Falkland Islands team, the long journey home begins tomorrow. Along with their luggage, the competitors will be carrying many memories, a justifiable sense of pride in a job well done and, hopefully, a determination to train hard and do even better in 2013.