Manx athletes break records at Orkney Island Games

The Isle of Man scored a haul of 21 medals in the second day of action at the Island Games, breaking records in the pool and on the track along the away.

It takes the island's overall medal tally to 25 as Manx gymnasts, cyclists, archers, and the badminton team also secured podium places in Orkney.

In swimming, it was double gold for Harry Robinson who broke the games record in the 50m backstroke event, and was also part of the record-breaking 50m medley relay team.

Runner Corrin Leeming became the first athlete to break the 30-minute barrier in the 10,000m at the event with a time of 29 minutes 56 seconds to clinch gold and set a new championship record.

Speaking to Manx Radio Sport, Leeming, who broke the record set by Janne Holmén in 2009 by seven seconds, said he had been worried about the weather as "you're not expecting it to be hot" in Orkney.

He said it meant the race at the at the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall had been "hard" but modestly described the result as being "OK in the end".

Leeming's win followed on from Christa Cain's smashing of the women's record in the same event the previous day.

A total of five medals were secured in the nearby pool at the centre by Manx swimmers on Monday.

Laura Kinley, the island's flag bearer at the opening ceremony, took silver in the 50m breaststroke, meanwhile it was third spot on the podium for Alex Turnbull in the 100m breaststroke and Lauren Dennett in the 200m freestyle races.

In Gymnastics, a sport not included since the Gotland games in 2017, the Manx squad made a sensational return securing 10 medals.

Nineteen-year-old Harry Eyres, from Andreas, achieved a hat-trick of individual awards, taking gold in the high bar, silver in the floor and bronze in the vault events.

He said it had felt "amazing" to compete and represent the Isle of Man, adding: "I love it, it's what we train for."

Additional silver medals for the gymnastics squad went to Ewan McIlraith in the rings, and Fraser McKenna and Amara Brogan in the vault category.

The female team, which included the youngest competitor of the games Phoebe Christian, also took second spot on the podium in the four-piece event at Stromness academy.

Meanwhile, bronze medals were awarded to Leon Martin in the parallel bars and Aine Matthews and Elise Pease in the asymmetric bars.

At his first games, Tyler Hannay was 2 minutes, 44 seconds clear of second place Colin Tester from Gibraltar in the individual time trial, which took in some of Orkney's coastline.

Known as "the Ramsey tram", he said the event was "long, tough and really windy", adding: "I had to grit my teeth and push."

Hannay said he was "really chuffed" to also be part of the men's team in the event that picked up gold on the day "because we're sharing that together".

"At these sort of games you're able to dig quite deep, because you feel you're doing it for people back at home who were supporting us," he added.

Two of the medals for the Isle of Man team on the second day of action were locked in by Manx archers.

In the 1440 round, the compound team took second place, with a further bronze medal achieved by Ethan Moore.

And in badminton the island's team took home a bronze medal after beating Menorca in the third place play-off.

The competition, which runs until Friday, has welcomed participants from 24 nations from around the world to compete in 12 sports.

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