The 11th NatWest Island Games in Shetland came to end last night, when a colourful closing ceremony brought the curtain down on an event that has been hailed by organisers and officials as a major success.

For Orkney, their ten medal accomplishment at this year’s event is the most successful since 1989, when the games were held in the Faroes.

The next island games will be held in Rhodes in 2007, where Orkney’s young, but talented team, will be hoping to mirror their performance this week.

Commenting on this year’s success, Ross Donaldson, chairman of the Orkney Island Games Association, said: “This has been brilliant. It has been such a dramatic turn around in fortunes since 2003. Things look to be moving forward for us and we are delighted with our achievements.”

Orkney’s men’s 4x400 metre relay team finished fifth in this afternoon’s final at Lerwick’s Clickimin Centre.

The team of Nigel Thomson, Bobby Oag, Ronald Gray and Neil Gray, ran a time of 3 mins 37.29 secs, which wrapped up a successful week for Orkney’s athletics squad - winning two golds one silver and two bronze.

Earlier in the day, 1,500 metre runner Thomas Fay, smashed his personal best time when he finished seventh in the event’s final.

Running a time of 4 mins 17.28 secs, Thomas said he was pleased to beat his previous best of 4 mins 25 secs.

Bryony Muir in the lead having been handed the batton by Mags Macrae, who ran the first leg.

Orkney’s women’s 4x400 metre relay team went from despair to ecstasy when they won bronze this afternoon.

Finishing the race in fourth position, it was only minutes later that officials announced that Isle of Man, who finished third, had been disqualified, giving the county’s women the bronze, Orkney’s tenth games medal.

The team of Mags Macrae, Bryony Muir, Jordan Fogarty and Ally Bain, said they were delighted to take bronze with a time of 4:03.98. Guernsey took gold with a time of 3:58.50, with silver going to Jersey for their time of 4:03.12.

Team member Mags said: “It’s absolutely amazing to win bronze here, we were gutted when we thought we hadn’t won a medal. Going through the race we felt really good so it is a fitting result for us.

“We are a really inexperienced team so we have done really well. I think we can do really well in the future with this team so things are excellent for us.”

Orkney’s footballers recorded their first victory of the island games today, beating the Falkland Islands 2-0, which puts them ninth place overall.

Playing in their final match of the campaign, goals from Steven Poke and Ross Sutherland was enough to see off their opponents.

Gold winner Joanna Walker

Orkney’s half marathon runner Joanna Walker eased her way to gold today, winning the county’s ninth medal.

Running positively from the start, Joanna, 27, who wins Orkney’s second island games gold, crossed the finishing line minutes ahead of her nearest challenger.

Completing the difficult route in a time of 1 hour 25 mins and 31 secs, she beat Lisa Fox, of Jersey, 1 hour 27 mins 47 secs, and Nikki Neal, of Alderney, 1 hour 27 mins 58 secs.

Joanna, who now lives in England, said: "I’m really pleased to win this, I had no idea of what to expect coming into the race. I managed to get a decent lead and just went on from there.

“It’s great to be back with the Orkney team and it is nice to see us doing so well."

"The course is quite challenging here, there are two big climbs which make it really difficult, the conditions haven’t been great, but the most important thing is that we have another gold and I am delighted with it.”

Table tennis player Catherine Symons won the bronze medal in the women’s individual tournament on Friday morning.

Playing Evelina Carlsson, of Gotland, in the semi-finals, Catherine was edged out, 4-1, which puts her in the bronze position. In the hard fought match, Catherine went down 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 6-11, 7-11.

Catherine said: “I am delighted to have got this far in the island games. I been to the games on many occasions now and this is the best I have done. It has been a hard week and this rounds it off perfectly for me.”

Silver medal winner Neil Gray holds the flag up for Orkney

Orkney track star Neil Gray took the county’s medal count to seven on Thursday night when he took silver in the 400 metre event.

Running within one hundredth of a second of his personal best of 48.93 secs, Neil was only passed by winner Daryl Vassallo, of Gibraltar, who finished in 48.73 secs, in the back straight.

Neil said he was delighted with the result.

He said: “It is a brilliant result for me, we have been looking towards the island games for the last two years, so it’s great to take the silver. To be within one hundredth of a second of my personal best in the conditions here tonight is excellent.”

Meanwhile, Bryony Muir and Mags Macrae were edged out of the 200 metre competition in yesterday’s semi finals.

Qualifying for the semis earlier in the day, both finished sixth in their semi final heats, Bryony with a time of 26.72 secs, and Mags finishing in 26.99 secs.

The Orkney archery team - bronze medal winners in the recurve head-to-head knockout. Back row, from left: Graham Brough, Ian Brough. Front row: David Kennedy, Jim Eltome-Middlemas and Annabel Eltome-Middlemas

The five-strong team won bronze in the team recurve head to head knock out, taking the medal tally to six.

Shooting in wet and windy conditions at Lerwick’s Clickimin Centre, the team of Jim Eltome-Middlemas, Ian Brough, Graham Brough, David Kennedy, and Annabel Eltome-Middlemas, who scored high in the final stages, beat Jersey 185-163 in the bronze medal play-off.

The Faroes won gold with Shetland taking silver after the play-off for top spot.

Speaking after their success, Jim said: “It is great that we have another medal, we have put in a lot of work and it seems to have paid off.

“I think you have to come to a lot of island games to get the experience, this is paying off for us now and we are all delighted.”

Jim also came close in the individual competition earlier in the day when he was beaten by only one point, 80-79, by Ynys Mon’s Wayne Houston in the quarters.

Orkney’s footballers will face the Falkland Islands today, Friday, in a ninth and tenth play-off today, after they were beaten 5-4 in a nine-goal thriller by the Western Isles yesterday.

In one of the most entertaining games of Orkney’s island games campaign, the county’s side were unlucky not to take something from the encounter.

Coming from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, Orkney lost the advantage when Western Isles equalised through a penalty. The opponents stretched their lead to 5-3 before Orkney scored a consolation goal.

Also playing in today’s final matches, will be host island, Shetland, who will face Guernsey in the competition final.

Orkney swimmer Jimmy Poke came a credible sixth in Wednesday night’s 50 metre butterfly final.

Jimmy, who was initially a reserve for the race after swimming a qualifying time of 28.05 secs, was brought into the action and finished in a time of 28.37 secs.

The final, which was the only individual one with Orkney representation, was won by Simon Le Couillard, of Jersey.

Orkney’s Nigel Thomson is out of the island games 100 metres, when he finished fifth in his heat this morning.

With a running a time of 12.06 secs, Nigel wasn’t far away from the third qualification place, which was taken by Anastasios Haviaras, of Rhodes, who finished in a time of 11.89 secs.

After the race Nigel said: “It was tough going, there are some really quick sprinters out there. The conditions didn’t help, it is wet and windy which makes it that bit more difficult.”

Orkney’s volleyball contingent had two reasons to celebrate last night (Wednesday), when both the men’s and women’s teams beat inter-county rivals Shetland, in play-off matches held in the Clickimin Centre.

The women rounded off a successful day, when they brushed aside Shetland 3-1, after beating Hitra 3-2 earlier in the day, which gives them seventh overall position in the tournament. Winning 31-29, 25-17, 23-25, 25-16, the team said they were delighted to end the competition on a high, after a series of defeats earlier in the week.

The men had to work a bit harder for their victory, winning 3-2 after taking a 2-0 lead. Their victory gives them tenth place overall, a position team coach, Conrad Omand, said he is pleased with.

He said: “We had to work really hard. We were 2-0 up at the start and they got back into it a bit. It’s a great victory and we’re pleased to finish the competition on a high.”

Steven Rendall

Orkney youngster Steven Rendall turned in an impressive round of 71 on the second day of the island games golf tournament on Wednesday.

Playing at Dale, he moved up to 19th place in the individual competition. Kenny Inkster was also in good form, shooting a 74, which moved him up to 15th.

Brian Corsie’s 80 saw him slip down the leader board to 20th, and Stewart Fotheringhame was in 37th place after an 82.

It was the women’s turn to tackle the difficult Whalsay course on Wednesday.

Shona Croy is in seventh place, after carding an 88. Elspeth McLellan is in 19th after going round in 91, Eileen Spence is one place further back and Audrea Poke is in 24th spot.

Today’s play sees the men tackle their second round at Whalsay, with the women back at Dale.

Adam Bews and Ian Stout battle it out for 11th and 12th place in the squash tournament.

Squash youngster Adam Bews beat Ian Stout in an all Orkney affair this afternoon to finish 11th overall in the singles play-off.

Adam, who will be playing until the end of the week, had to fight hard for his 3-0 play-off victory, with Ian, who finishes a credible 12th, taking the lead in two of the three games.

Adam, 17, said he was pleased with his 11th place finish: “It was a good game, obviously we know each other’s game very well. I think I’m more used to playing in these sorts of tournaments, but Ian is a good player so I’m pleased to win.

“I am happy with 11th place, I would have really liked to get in the top ten but I would have settled for this going into the tournament.”

Stromness swimmer Jimmy Poke narrowly missed out on a place in final of the men’s 50 metre butterfly this morning, in Lerwick’s Clickimin Centre.

Jimmy swam a time of 28.05 secs, just behind the sixth place qualifier, Niall Killey, of the Isle of Man, who clocked a time of 27.61 secs.

Meanwhile, Orkney’s men’s 4x100 metre medley relay team qualified as reserves for tonight’s final.

The county’s team swam a time of 4 mins 33.91 secs in this morning’s heats, behind Gibraltar, the sixth outright qualifiers, who swam a time of 4 mins 17.69 secs.

Orkney’s women’s volleyball team recorded their first victory of the island games today, when they beat Hitra 3-2 in a closely fought match.

Coming from two sets behind, Orkney took the game to the final set where they won 15-10. The team are currently contesting the play-off for 7th-9th place, they will face rivals Shetland tonight in the Clickimin Centre.

Meanwhile, the men’s team also recorded their first victory of the games, defeating Shetland 3-1 last night in convincing fashion. In their play off to determine 9th-11th place, they were beaten by Jersey 3-0 this morning. In their final play-off tie tonight, they will once again face Shetland.

Success. David Miller crosses the finishing line on Tuesday night

Orkney celebrated yet another medal at the Shetland Island Games on Tuesday night when 16-year-old athlete David Miller won the bronze in an exciting climax to the 800 metre final.

Lying fifth with a lap to go, the youngster ran a tremendous last 200 metres and came within a shirt's width of the silver.

The race was won by Tom Druve of Guernsey won the race in 1.56.58. David, and Dominic Carroll, of Gibraltar, were given the same time, of 1.58.84, but the judges said the Orkney athlete had just been pipped.

When he crossed the line, David let out a shriek of delight, and promptly fell to his knees, having given everything.

Orkney golfer Brian Corsie teeing off at the first at Whalsay golf course.

Orkney's golfers are well placed after a good first day of island games competition.

Brian Corsie was lying tenth in the men's event, after recording a 77 in difficult conditions at the stunning Whalsay golf course yesterday.

The men's action switches to Dale, near Lerwick, today.

In the women's event, Shona Croy started today in fifth place, just four shots off the lead after her first round at Dale yesterday. The ladies tackle Whalsay today.

The golf competition is decided over four days. The team event is based on the scores of the top three players out of the four-strong teams from each competing island.

Jim Eltome-Middlemas with his silver medal

Orkney hit the medal target for the third and fourth time on Tuesday when the archers claimed team and individual silvers at Lerwick's Clickimin Centre.

Jim Eltome-Middlemas won silver in the highly competitive recurve individual tournament, and the Orkney team, who consisted of Jim, Annabel Eltome-Middlemas, David Kennedy, Graham Brough and Ian Brough, finished one point above Shetland to take silver.

Jim, who led the two-day event overnight, said: “It is fantastic to win silver. The team event is more important than my individual achievement. Conditions were fairly difficult today but we managed to pull through and we’re delighted to win.”

Orkney's footballers were beaten 2-0 by Ynys Mon on Tuesday afternoon, their third game in as many days.

The squad went down 3-0 to favourites Guernsey on Sunday, before losing another closely fought game 2-1 against Greenland in Unst, the most northerly venue of the games, on Monday.

In yesterday's match, Orkney went behind after 10 minutes, but fought back on 76 minutes to equalise through a Steve Poke strike.

However, Greenland nicked a winner with less than five minutes to go.

A flying start for Neil Gray in the 400m heat

Orkney’s Neil Gray eased his way into the island games 400m final when he finished second in his heat with a time of 50.78 secs.

Running in wet and windy condition at the Clickimin Centre, the 19-year-old looked comfortable throughout the race, and will now compete in Thursday’s final.

After the race Neil said: “It was tough, I had a hard draw in the outside lane which made it more difficult for me. I managed to set a decent pace and then controlled it from there, it’s just a case of waiting until my next race and doing my best.”

Running in the second 400m heat was Nigel Thomson, who narrowly missed out on a place in the final. Clocking a time of 53.07, Nigel missed out on qualifying as a fastest loser by just 2.16 secs.

The bowls fours men's team from Orkney have been knocked out of the competion.

They were beaten by Isle of Man 20-12, and Jersey 25-3.

A delighted Helen Cromarty after winning the gold medal in the women's shot putt.

Shot putter Helen Cromarty claimed gold for Orkney at the island games in Shetland on Monday night - smashing her own personal best and setting a new county record in the process.

She was never headed after putting in a throw of 10.70 metres in the opening round - but the fireworks really started with her third throw.

Cheered on by a large and vocal group of fellow Orkney athletes and supporters, she threw 11.76 metres, bettering her own personal best best 28 centimetres.

No-one got within a metre of her throw, the Isle of Man's Louise Kneen claiming the silver.

Mags Macrae

Orkney's island games hopes are on track in the athletics event after Mags Macrae beat difficult conditions to win her 400m heat, at the Clickimin Centre on Monday.

In a gritty performance, Mags ran a time of 1 min 1 sec to clinch first place and book her place in Tuesday's final.

Youngster David Miller also confirmed his place in a final on Monday, when he finished second equal in his 800m heat. In a tactical run David clocked a time 2 mins 10 secs, he will also compete in the final stages on Tuesday.

Jordan Fogarty did well to finish fourth in the women's 400m heat with a time of 1 min 4 secs. Ronald Gray also came close in the 800m heats when he finished fifth in a time of 2 mins 17 secs.

Scottish swimming legend Alison Shepherd made a splash when she officially opened the swimming event at a colourful ceremony in the Clickimin Centre on Monday.

Alison, a record breaking swimmer who has won Commonwealth gold and competed in the Olympics five times, said she was honoured to open the island games swimming competition.

She said: “On behalf of Shetland and Scottish swimming I would like to welcome everyone and wish the best of luck to everyone competing. The island games is a fantastic sporting event and whether you win or lose you will be leaving with valuable experience.”

Orkney's Craig Gillon, who made his debut aged 16, in the game against Guernsey.

Orkney's footballers provided an inspired performance against islands games tournament favourites Guernsey on sunday.

Although Orkney lost 3-0, it was a far cry from the 12-0 hammering they took at the hands of Guernsey two years ago.

Manager Graeme Hamilton said he was delighted with his whole squad, and was confident of a good showing today.

"I am really delighted with the way we played, and I think we could nick a win against Greenland."

The game against Guernsey also saw a senior county debut for 16-year-old Craig Gillon (pictured), who came on as a sub for the last 15 minutes.

Full report and more pictures in this week's paper.

Orkney badminton player Derek Manson in action against Shetland.

An understrength Orkney badminton squad was defeated 5-0 in their opening game of the team event against inter-county rivals Shetland.

Missing four senior players, the game provided valuable experience for Orkney's up and coming crop of youngsters.

And after a tough start, the squad then had to take to the court just a couple of hours later to face Guernsey - the gold medallists from two years ago.

Again Orkney lost 5-0, although some of the matches were more closely fought than earlier.

However, the day finished on a high note, with a victory against St Helena. Moira Nicolson won her singles match, Calvin Reid and Derek Manson the men's doubles and Moira and Elaine Gray the women's doubles.

Robert Wilson, Derek Firth and Victor Smith with their medals.

Orkney's sharp shooters claimed the county's first medal at the island games in Shetland.

Victor Smith, Derek Firth and Robert Wilson claimed bronze in the English Sporting Men's team event, with a score of 147.

In a closely fought contest, Ynys Mon won the gold with 150, and the Isle of Wight silver with 149. Derek Smith was also the top gun of the event, with a score of 86 out of 100.

Victor said that although the team was delighted to win a bronze medal, they may have finished higher had the firing pin on his gun not broken, forcing him to shoot for part of the event with a borrowed weapon.

Orkney's indoor bowls fours team said they were "gutted" to lose to Isle of Wight on Sunday, in what was an agonising conclusion to a game they had dominated throughout.

Despite being behind for almost the entire match, Isle of Wight conjured a last gasp effort, which rewarded them with a 17-14 win with the last bowl of the match.

But the men played again later on Sunday, this time beating Ynys Mon 27-10.

The women's bowls fours also played two matches, but were beaten 17-7 by Shetland, and then 20-18 by Isle of Wight.

A spirited performance by Orkney's men's volleyball team, on Sunday, wasn't enough to prevent a straight sets defeat at the hands of the well-fancied Aland.

Despite losing the first set 25-7, Orkney showed better organisation and composure in the following two sets and came close losing out 25-15 and 25-14.

Orkney competitor Steven Spence said that the team were pleased with their performance in the second and third sets, and hopes the team can improve throughout the week.

The women's volleyball team also played and were beaten 3-0 against the Faroes (the winners of the last three island games).

Vicki Copland, OIC sports development officer, leads the women's volleyball team through the opening parade.

Torquil Clyde, left, and members of the athletics team smile through the rain at the opening of the island games.

Orkney's rain-soaked representatives joined over 2,000 competitors at the official opening of the NatWest Island Games XI, on Saturday evening.

A torrential downpour didn't deter celebrations, as the 24 member islands embraced the wet conditions to open the games in Shetland's Clickimin Centre.

The ceremony, which was performed by First Minister Jack McConnell, kicks off an action packed week that will see Orkney compete in 14 different sports.

Ross Donaldson, chairman of the Orkney Island Games Association, performed the role of flag bearer in this his seventh island games. Ross said: "I was delighted to be asked to carry the flag and it was really good, I felt very proud."