NatWest Island Games: Prone to go gold
THE shooting pair of Matthew Guille and Lee Roussel claimed the honour of becoming Guernsey's first gold medallists at the Gotland Games yesterday.
Guille, a former Commonwealth Games medallist for the island, led the way with an outstanding 584 total in the NSRA 100-yards prone rifle men's team event to be the highest individual scorer in the event by four.
Roussel supported him excellently with 569 for a team total of 1,153, which put the Sarnian duo well clear of the field.
That was one of two shooting medals for Guernsey on the opening day of competition as Nikki Trebert and Rebecca Margetts joined forces for bronze in the women's team 10m air pistol, scoring a combined 690 in a competition won by the Isle of Wight on 714 with Gibraltar again taking silver.
The three other medals won by Guernsey were all silvers and two of those came thanks to the growing strength in depth of the island's triathletes.
Only Jersey, who won individual and team golds in both the women's and men's races, could boast a stronger line-up here in an event that saw the swimming leg shortened due to rough sea conditions on a largely windy and grey day.
The sun had emerged, though, by the time Lee Merrien added a silver medal to his collection in the 10,000m on the Gutavallen track, while Guernsey came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with Aland in the men's football.
Full coverage of day one of the Games in today's Guernsey Press
