Medley relay squad create 'perfect storm'

SARNIAN nerves were shredded last night but it was worth it as Guernsey's awesome men's 4x100 medley quartet snatched a sensational gold.

The Alands Idrottscenter was absolutely rocking even before the best race of the evening, but the noise from the Sarnian contingent on the balcony which drove Jeremy Osborne to take the touch ahead of the Faroes was deafening.

Footballers, golfers, table tennis players and a vast array of VIPs were there to cheer their fellow islanders home in a massive new Island Games record.

Jonathon Le Noury had led off on the opening leg, in which the brilliant Grant Halsall set a new Games record for the 100m backstroke, and handed over to Ben Lowndes with Guernsey in third.

Breaststroke is not Lowndes' favoured stroke, but he did his job of maintaining position magnificently and Ian Hubert entered the water just where he wanted to be - in contention with the Faroes the team to beat in the next lane.

Hubert may be the least celebrated of the four, but his outstanding performance was crucial, closing the gap down to exactly half-a-second with the freestyle to go.

Osborne did the rest with a display of sheer power that will live long in the memory.

He had halved the deficit with 50m to go and Guernsey's fifth man - their supporters - gave him the required push to take him past the Faroes down the final length.

The time of 3-49.32 destroyed the previous record by five seconds and the winning margin was 0.33sec.