Athletics never fails to capture the attention
at any international sporting event, and once again the sport will take centre
stage at this year's island games. Fortunately for Orkney, the county has
a squad travelling to Shetland that is bursting with podium potential and looking
forward to the challenge at this year's event. A team featuring a mix of
youth and experience will travel to Shetland, in July, looking to get the county's
island games record back on track. Despite a fruitless campaign in 2003,
Orkney Athletics Club now boasts an in-form squad with many accelerating into
the national scene. Including success in the Halliburton league, the squad
has done well at national and district level, and even gained some international
honours along the way. Orkney's performances at national competitions in
recent years have steadily improved. This has helped heighten expectation for
the squad travelling to Shetland. Team coach Malcolm Colquhoun is quick
to point out, however, that he does not want to place too much pressure on the
younger squad members. He said: "Seven of the young athletes are under
18 years-old and still attending school. "They have done exceptionally
well over the last few seasons at district and national level. However, this is
another big step-up in the standard of competition for them, and for some at least,
perhaps this games may have come a little too early. "One thing I am
sure of is that they will give a good account of themselves and if they perform
as I know they can on the day, who knows?" Medal success in the island
games is no stranger to Orkney athletes - in 2001, Jeremy Smyth, javelin, and
Linda Low, hammer throw, both took silvers, which accounted for half of Orkney's
medal tally that year. The pair came close again in 2003, with both being
narrowly edged out of the medals in fourth place. Neither will be travelling
to Shetland this year, but with the emerging talents of Neil Gray, Bryony Muir
and Co, there is certainly cause for optimism. It was a small squad that
travelled to Guernsey in 2003, but with a bigger, 14-strong team competing this
year, Orkney has every chance. Mr
Colquhoun said that he is pleased with the efforts made since 2003, which he believes
will benefit the team come July. Coach Malcolm added: "There has been
a huge effort made by everyone associated with the club over the last two years,
and the work for the Shetland games started immediately after the last games. "Our
senior coach, John Cumming, set demanding standards based on finishing times at
the Guernsey event. "This meant that any athlete wishing to compete
in Shetland really needed to commit to his or her event in order to gain selection. "Orkney
Athletics Club joined the Halliburton League so that our senior athletes had access
to regular competition. "If you look at Nigel Thomson's performance
last season you will see that at the age of 37 he ran a lifetime best in the 400m
and in the 200m which was also an Orkney record. "Helen Cromarty is
another who I believe has benefited from the extra competition. "I
think she has gone quite unnoticed locally, but she has competed at the last two
Scottish senior national events in Glasgow and set a new North district record
on her way to winning the title last season. "Helen, Nigel Thomson
and Neil Gray, who is being coached by Jimmy Bryce, were our top performers last
season. I expect that will be very much the same this season. "Joining
the Halliburton League was more successful than expected, to make the final in
the senior men's and women's, and also the Under 17s at our first attempt, was
excellent." Malcolm said that he was pleased with the ongoing preparation
for the games and believes that both senior and junior members can do well. He
continued: "The coaches have prepared the athletes as well as they possibly
could. The squad is looking good and I am pleased with the way both the seniors
and juniors are shaping up." The squad received another boost recently
with the news that Hoy Half Marathon record holder, Joanna Walker, will be joining
the team in Shetland. This, according to Mr Colquhoun, will be a great advantage. He
continued: "Joanna coming to Shetland is a really big boost and I am delighted
to have her in the team. "She was working abroad for a while and running
had to take a back seat, but she is back now and I'm delighted she is going to
compete in Shetland. "On the down-side we have lost a couple of athletes
from the squad in the last few months for differing reasons so we won't have Linda
or Jeremy. So while we have as good a squad as we have had for a long time, it
has been weakened in terms of experience." It is not just the youngsters
who are on impressive form, but the seniors as well. Orkney firefighter, Nigel Thomson, set a blazing
trail last year, winning four gold medals at the world firefighter championships
in Sheffield. Nigel had a successful season last year, which was capped
off by winning the senior sportsperson of the year at the Orkney sports awards
last November. Nigel, who will be 39 when the games start, may be thought
of as the squad's veteran, but as he continues to run times that the youngsters
would be proud of, he has every opportunity of doing well. Nigel, who has
competed in every island games since the competition started in 1985, told The
Orcadian: "I am really looking forward to going to Shetland and once again
really proud to be representing Orkney. "I think to be realistic, my
aim in my individual events is to get to the final of one. The standard is really
high at the games and I would like to compete in the final stages if I can. "It
is a young squad going to Shetland but they are all very talented and understand
the challenges ahead. "They have all been training for a long time.
Our athletes understand how hard it will be because of how good the times are.
It will be a great experience and hopefully our younger athletes will gain a lot
from it." Collectively, Orkney representatives seem to be looking forward
to the Shetland conditions as opposed to those in Guernsey two years ago. Nigel
continued: "We have got a massive advantage this year with it being in Shetland. "It
was really warm in 2003, I was warming up without a top on while a representative
from the Cayman Islands was wearing a hat and gloves to warm up. "The
weather conditions make a huge difference at an event like this, so hopefully
they will benefit us this time." Preparation for the games isn't only
a matter for the athletes, but for the background staff as well. Malcolm
said that the preparation work of Ronnie Johnson, team manager, and Norman Shearer,
technical adviser, have been crucial. He continued: "Ronnie has come
in this year and taken care of all the accommodation and travel, which is really
important as this all has to be right. "It is an essential part of
the planning and we will go to Shetland and demonstrate how to plan for an event
this size." Mr Johnson said: "One of the things Norman and I feel
really strongly about is preparation, we have to have all the factors in place
so that when we get to the games all we have to do is think about is competing. "Thankfully
we have received sponsorship from Talisman and the Orkney Rotary Club, so we will
use some of this cash to pay for the accommodation and meals. "This
has been a huge help and we are extremely grateful to them," he added. "The
coaches have put in a huge amount of effort to get the team ready and we feel
that we have the potential to do well, we are definitely going to Shetland to
compete and hopefully leave with some medals." Key members of the Orkney
squad now live south which has meant that the squad don't always train collectively.
This, however, has had positive consequences with some members, such as Neil Gray,
who has received international standard coaching south. Despite some geographical
differences, Mr Johnson said the team couldn't be more united. He said:
"We are a really close team, united in what we want to achieve. The dedication
of the team has been enormous as far as I am concerned. I'm sure they will go
and do Orkney proud and I am privileged to be part of this squad." Coach
Malcolm concluded: "We have relied on the throwers at the last few games
to get us some honours. We haven't won a track medal for some time and we really
need to do something about that. "We are really looking forward to
the games, it is a great competition and hopefully it will go well for us." The
2005 Islands Games athletics squad is: Aly Bain, Helen Cromarty, Thomas Fay, Jordan
Fogarty, Neil Gray, Ronald Gray, Mags Macrae, David Miller, Linsey Miller, Bryony
Muir, Nigel Thomson, Joanna Walker, Karen Wood, and, on stand by, Bobby Oag. Coach
- Malcolm Colquhoun; assistant coach - Alison Davis; team manager - Ronnie Johnson;
technical adviser - Norman Shearer
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