Isle of Man rack up 17 medals on final day of Games

The Isle of Man team finished the Island Games in Guernsey on a high after winning 17 medals on the final day of action.

Success in golf, athletics, tennis, shooting, cycling and football on Friday saw the island's largest daily medal haul of the 2023 competition.

In Badminton, Kim Clague made history by claiming gold in the women's doubles for the fifth consecutive time with partner Jess Li.

Meanwhile, in the half marathon, Manx athletes took home four medals, including three gold, taking the island's overall total to 63 and placing it third in the standings.

Clague said although the duo beat their opponents in straight sets, the match had been "tough going" and they were "a tricky pair with really good defence".

She was left "speechless" after winning her fifth title in a row at the Games, and third in a row with Li, she said.

While she said she felt "mixed emotions" as she wished "we'd managed to medal in the team event" , the double's success "kind of made up for it".

The island's mixed badminton team narrowly missed out on a medal in a tightly fought match on Monday against Guernsey.

It was Li's second medal of the day, after she had earlier faced strong competition in Sara Jacobsen from Greenland.

The match was a "tough one, at the end of a long week" and there "wasn't much more I could have done", Li said.

Going home with with three medals following a bronze yesterday, she said it had been "great to be back at an island games after such a long break" following the delay due to the pandemic

On the tennis court, Anna Kirk and Sean Drewry beat a Guernsey side with a lot of support for the home team, taking gold in the mixed doubles.

Kirk said: "It feels incredible, this is my first Games, I've just had the best time this week, I'm so happy to be taking a gold home."

Meanwhile, in the women's doubles Karen Faragher and Sarah Long lost to a home side to earn silver for Manx team.

In golf, the men's team of Daryl Callister, James Arneil, Robert Noon and Liam Cowin claimed bronze, while the women's team were one shot away from achieving third place.

On the wet streets of St Peter Port, the island's men came second overall in the road criterium, but Will Draper just missed out on an individual bronze in a sprint finish with Jersey's John Pallot.

Draper fought back in the triathlon relay event later that day to take third place with team-mates Corrin Leeming and Kiera Prentice who completed the course in a time of 1:09:39.

Leeming had already claimed gold on Friday as the first man to cross the finish line in the half marathon, Rachael Franklin also finished first in the women's event to secure her third gold of the competition.

The men's team took gold, with the women's team delivering silver, marking four medals for Manx athletes in the event.

Elsewhere in athletics, both the men and women's 4x100 relay teams came third overall to add two more bronze medals to the island's tally.

There were three medals in shooting for Manx athletes as the competition drew to a close.

Nicholas Mihailovits was tied for the top spot but took home silver in the open English skeet individual event following a sudden death shoot off.

Robert Watterson also won a medal after a shoot off, beating his competitor from Saaremaa to secure bronze in the men's automatic ball trap competition.

And 16-year-old Kathryn Holden took bronze in the women's 10m air pistol event.

In football, the Manx women's team claimed the bronze medal after overcoming Menorca 3-1 in the play-off, with goals from Erin Sells, Tia Lisy and Chloe Teare.

Captain Becky Corkish said she felt "immense pride" at the final whistle and "couldn't ask for a better group of girls to have led, whether they were on the pitch or on the bench".

The event finished with a closing ceremony at Footes Lane on Friday evening.

The next Island Games will be held in Orkney in 2025.

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