Guernsey Athletics has confirm its 25-athlete squad for the upcoming International Island Games in Orkney with track stars Abi Galpin and Chris Bain spearheading the team.
Galpin will be leading a “strong and deep female team”, said island coach Tom Druce.
That female team includes reigning Island Games medallists Rhiannon Dowinton, Vicky Hancock, Darcey Hodgson, and Nicole Petit.
Druce said Bain is hungry to make amends after finishing an agonising 4th in the 800m in Guernsey two years ago. He’ll have strong company in the middle-distance events in orkney this summer with Richard Bartram hot on his heels having too experienced a 4th-place finish last time out.
Josh Duke headlines the sprints after a credible 5th place finish in Guernsey in 2023.
Guernsey Athletics Club has given 10 athletes their Island Games debuts in this squad with the emergence of Amelia Hart who was an unused reserve for the relay two-years ago but now arrives in Orkney with A Standards in all three sprint events.
Team manager Druce is assisted by Lee Merrien and Nick Marley again as has been the case for the past two Island Games. Druce said the trio had plenty of talent to choose from when making their selections.
“I am extremely pleased with the strength of this team heading to Orkney on the back of a successful home Games two years ago,” he said.
“The team looks very different – which I think was always expected – but the enthusiasm for the Island Games is clearly still high within our club.
“I’ve always said that we and our fellow islands are so fortunate to have this amazing biannual event to engage our athletes and elevate our collective level. If we were a similar sized club on the mainland without this unique opportunity then we would not see this happening.
“Abi and Chris are established high performers for us and I expect them to be great examples for the many youngsters on the team. Ultimately though we do have a lot of experience with 14 athletes who’ve stepped out on this stage previously.
“The emotion that I’ve seen from those athletes who raised their level in the nick of time to secure their standards was lovely to see and shows how much this means to everyone. But I am sure they know that there is still plenty of work to do in order to work towards the best results they can achieve in Orkney.
“Medals are difficult to predict because there are many islands whose progress is difficult to follow in between Games. In Guernsey 2023, two of our main stars ran Island Games records but only came second – so it goes to show you really cannot take anything for granted. We clearly have a lot of medal potential and we are ambitious to do as well as we can – but as I’ve always said the Games are a fantastic vehicle for athlete development and driving up performance irrespective of how many medals we achieve.”
The full Guernsey athletics team for the 2023 Island Games:
