Sport / Triathlete Henderson to fly the flag for Shetland at Orkney games
SHETLAND’s flag bearer and water carrier for next month’s Island Games in Orkney have been announced.
Triathlete Lynsey Henderson will fly the flag for Shetland and lead the team into the opening ceremony at the Bignold Park in Kirkwall on Saturday 12 July.
And athlete Katie Dinwoodie will be this year’s water carrier, pouring water from Shetland into a fountain that runs through games week and contains water from every competing island.
This will be Henderson’s ninth Island Games as a competitor, having first taken part as a swimmer in Gotland in 1999 aged just 16.
She took part in four games as a member of the swim team, then took up cycling and running and has since competed as a triathlete at four previous games.
Henderson won a silver medal in Bermuda in 2013 in the individual triathlon event and has gone on to win three bronze medals in the women’s team triathlon event in Jersey in 2015, Gotland in 2017 and Guernsey in 2023.
Sprinter Dinwoodie won gold and bronze medals in the 200 and 100 metre races respectively in Gibraltar 2019. She added two bronze medals in Guernsey in 2023, in the same events.
She plans to compete in the sprint events again in Orkney next month, and to be part of the relay team in the 4x100m and 4x400m events.
The 2025 Shetland Island Games team will include 175 competitors and officials from 12 sports – archery, athletics, badminton, cycling, football, golf, gymnastics, lawn bowls, sailing, squash, swimming, and triathlon.
Over 2,000 competitors from 24 island teams are expected to take part in this year’s games.
Sheland Island Games Association chairwoman Lesley Hutchison said they were “really pleased” to announce Henderson and Dinwoodie as flag bearer and water carrier respectively.
“They’re both successful games athletes, and fantastic ambassadors for their sports who deserve to be centre stage at the opening ceremony in Orkney next month.”
Local marine engineering firm Malakoff Limited are again the official team sponsor this year, a role they have fulfilled since 2013.
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