2015 NatWest Island Games / Gifford and Strachan win first golds
SHETLAND’s swimming team has done it again. On day two of this year’s NatWest Island Games Felix Gifford and Andrea Strachan both won gold in the pool.
And sprinter Faye Cox added another bronze medal in the 100 metres track event.
Shetland footballers enjoyed a very productive evening’s work, beating Hitra 4-1. They came from a goal down with a hat-trick of set pieces from captain Leighton Flaws and a late fourth from Erik Thomson.
It leaves the team in with a shout of qualifying for the last four following their final group match against the Falklands on Tuesday.
The first gold of the evening came when Felix Gifford narrowly beat Thomas Hollingsworth from Guernsey in the 200m butterfly in in 2:02.07.
This was followed shortly afterwards by a second gold medal in the pool, this time by Andrea Strachan who managed to win the 50m breaststroke in 31.68 against stiff competition from Kara Hanlon from the Western Isles.
Gifford and Strachan repeated their success from Bermuda, two years ago, when their gold medals won in exactly the same disciplines were also Shetland’s first golds of the games.
Other notable results from the swimming events were Megan Perry’s 7th place in the 400m individual medley, Felix Gifford’s 4th place in the men’s 200m individual medley, the women’s 5th place in the 4x50m freestyle relay.
Jake Swanson came 8th in the 100m breaststroke final, as did the men’s 4x50m medley relay team.
Faye Cox’ third place in the 100m sprint in a time of 12.39, enough for a bronze, was the highlight of the evening for Shetland in the athletics stadium. Her teammate Sophie Moar was 7th in the same race in a time of 12.83.
And middle distance runner Emma Leask eased into the 400m final, winning her semi final in a time of 58.42.
Unfortunately, Shane Odie and Alan Williamson did not manage to progress into the 800m final.
Other results from the day were:
- Following his bronze medal in the hammer throw, Maurice Williamson managed a 6th place in shot putt, with Connor McDonald coming 9th;
- Claire Johnson finished the javelin competition in a 6th place, with teammate Caitlin Ward coming 9th;
- Shetland’s archery team of Michael Craigie, Billy Finnie, Martin Krusche and Sara Leith came 5th in the single FITA compound team event;
- The badminton team finished the team event in 10th place after beating Orkney 3-2 earlier in the day;
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