Guernsey Athletics have announced a youthful squad filling all their available places for Orkney 2025, one which team manager Tom Druce is 'extremely pleased' with.
The squad features three golden girls from Guernsey 2023 and, on the other hand, 11 athletes that have not raced at Games level before.
Commonwealth Games semi-finalist Abi Galpin and middle-distance star Chris Bain spearhead the team.
The latter is hungry to make amends after finishing an agonising fourth over 800m at Guernsey 2023.
He has strong company in the middle-distance events, with Richard Bartram hot on his heels having experienced his own fourth-place finish last time out.
Josh Duke headlines the men's sprints after a creditable fifth place over 100m in Guernsey. His four sprint allies are all new faces for the Games.
But the women's team has a particular sheen, featuring five individual medallists from last time out.
Beyond 200m champion Galpin, the strong and deep team includes Rhiannon Dowinton, Vicky Hancock, Darcey Hodgson and Nicole Petit. Both Dowinton and Hancock also struck individual gold in Guernsey.
Overall, three of the winning women's 4x100m squad are returning to defend their crown.
There are 10 debuting athletes, plus the emergence of Amelia Hart, who was an unused relay reserve in Guernsey but heads over with A standards in all three sprints.
Development officer Druce will be joined on team management duties by Lee Merrien and Nick Marley, like the last two editions.
'I am extremely pleased with the strength of this team heading to Orkney on the back of a successful home Games two years ago,' Druce 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 biennial 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.'
Guernsey Athletics recently crammed four Footes Lane meets into a two-week spell to allow hopefuls to achieve last-gasp qualifiers.
Druce has been impressed by the response from their up-and-coming athletes.
'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.'
Although Guernsey's athletes topped the table with eight golds two years ago, Druce added: '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 individual events in which each athlete will compete are not to be confirmed until next month.
Squad
Men's sprints: Josh Duke, Daniel Pike, Theo Le Tissier, Seth Le Tissier, Nic Ackermann.
Men's middle/long distance: Chris Bain, Richard Bartram, Gian-Luca Robilliard, James Priest, Sammy Galpin.
Women's sprints: Abi Galpin, Rhiannon Dowinton, Emily Pike, Tilly Beddow, Amelia Hart.
Women's middle/long distance: Darcey Hodgson, Kate Bain, Nix Petit, Vanessa King, Sarah Eagles, Eloise Scholes.
Women's jumps: Vicky Hancock, Lauren Gilchrist, Amelie Carpentier, Holly Drake.
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