Golden girls shine brightly for hosts
IT WAS a day for Guernsey’s golden girls at the Island Games yesterday.
The hosts still top the medals table and added nine more golds to their tally, with Hannah Brehaut getting the ball – or cycle wheel – rolling with a brilliant victory in the women’s individual time trial and also taking gold in the team event alongside Helena Duguid, Danielle Hanley, Karina Jackson and Jamie-Lee Wright.
A few hours later, day two at the Aztech Centre ended on a high for the home island with Tara Leighton-Dyson and Nikki Trebert combining to win team gold in the women’s 10m air pistol.
The pairing finished comfortably ahead of the silver medallists from the Isle of Wight.
Then, in the first night of swimming finals, Oriana Wheeler, Orla Rabey and the women’s 4x50 freestyle relay team all struck gold with magnificent performances.
Wheeler produced a 400m individual medley performance beyond her wildest expectations.
‘I was going into it expecting maybe a one-second PB and a bronze medal and I got a six-second PB and a gold medal, which is nothing I could ever have expected. It was amazing,’ she said.
The quartet of Hannah Jones, Laura Le Cras, Rabey and Tatiana Tostevin not only took the relay win, but they blitzed the Guernsey, Island Games and all-comers’ record in the process.
It was not all about the girls, though, as Ronny Hallett also topped the podium for the hosts, just beating his brother Charlie-Joe Hallett to the touch in the 100m breaststroke as the siblings took gold and silver.
There was also a third gold of the Games for shooter Andy Torode, this time in the Service Pistol B, and the combination of Ollie Hudson and Nick Kerins came out on top in the Kings Pair full-bore event on their home range at Fort Le Marchant.
Reports, pictures and interviews in today's Guernsey Press
