Originating from the Isle of Wight, ICRTouch decided to sponsor the team to ensure the athletes of its home isle are able to compete at the games.
This year, we sent ICRTouch staff to the games in Gibraltar to film and capture the events and stories that occurred throughout the week. Team IOW did not disappoint with 11 Gold medals, their best performance since 2001.
How Did We Do?
The mayor of Gibraltar opened the friendly games with a message of “Hope and kinder times. Hope, for cleaner oceans.”
Once the flag was raised and the games were open, Isle of Wight were on a gold rush right off the bat with three medals being achieved right away in shooting.
In shooting Matthew Reed and Perron Phipps won Gold in the 50m Air Pistol.
Shooting sisters Imogen and Shelley Moss also added to their medal tally by winning silver in the ladies’ pair pistol event.
Shooters Dom Cowen and Andy Whittall won the 50m prone rifle team event.
The Island’s triathletes all featured in the first event of this year’s games, with Dave Sweet first home in the men’s event in 13th.
Jan Fletcher and Lizzie Steward, both nursing injuries, finished the ladies’ race in 16th and 17th respectively.
Day two saw five more gold medals for the island, two golds in judo and athletics, plus another in rifle shooting, took the Isle of Wight to seven golds overall.
In athletics Dan Eckersley repeated his Gold medal in the 3000m Steeplechase from 2017. James Foreman won Gold in the 400m hurdles.
In Judo, third generation competitors, sisters Hannah and Emily Niven, aged 16 and 18, won the Gold in women’s 52kg and 63kg respectively
Abigail Lacey won the silver in swimming becoming the island’s fastest ever female swimmer in the 400m.
Six more medals were won by Team Isle of Wight on the third day of competition at the 2019 Island Games.
13 Year old Squash player Amelie Haworth was the youngest competitor in the games and came away with two bronze medals in the women’s singles and doubles with Fleur Orchard in her very first games.
In Swimming Abigail Lacey won two more bronze medals, with the Women’s relay team winning a bronze.
In shooting, Matt Reed and Perron Phipps won their second gold of the games with victory in the men’s team 10m pistol event.
Imogen Moss won bronze in the ladies’ standard pistol.
Mabel Lewis won bronze in the ladies’ 1500m. Athletics coach Nick Groocock said: “It was an outrageous run by Mabel.”
And in Judo, Ben Maher won the team’s third judo medal by taking bronze in the men’s 100kg event.
Team Isle of Wight has 20 Island Games medals after four days of competition in Gibraltar.
In judo, Dan Blinkhorn continued the team’s medal streak with gold in the men’s open category on Wednesday.
Dan Eckersley added to his steeplechase gold by taking bronze in the 5000m and Imogen Moss also won bronze in the 25m air pistol shooting.
The penultimate day at the 2019 Island Games ended in dramatic style for Team Isle of Wight.
Four medals – a silver and three bronze – were all won last night (Thursday), to follow another silver won by Perron Phipps in air pistol shooting earlier in the day.
Team Isle of Wight ended the 2019 Island Games with 34 medals, eight more than the previous games and the best result for TeamIOW since 2001, after a brilliant final day in Gibraltar.
Charlie Metcalfe became the first ever Island woman to win the half-marathon, helping the ladies’ team, which included Laura Brackley and Rosie Sexton, to a silver medal.
Metcalfe said: “I was so elated. It was amazing and I’m so happy.”
Richard Clifton won gold in the IPSC standard pistol and a bronze with Ian Grimes in the team event.
Also in rifle shooting, Dom Cowen won silver in the 50m prone, with Andy Whittall took bronze.
Team Isle of Wight won three table tennis bronze medals in the men’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
Elsewhere, sailing saw a whole host of conditions from no wind and calm seas to choppy conditions with unpredictable wind shifts. A truly challenging week for any sailor but our Island team placed 7th overall.
In basketball, team Isle of Wight signed off with a hard-fought 46-44 win against the Faroe Islands
Congratulations to TeamIOW
ICRTouch would like to congratulate all the athletes that competed at the friendly games, representing their islands.
