Sport / Cyclists and triathletes ready to ‘lay it all on the line’ in Orkney
SHETLAND’S team of cyclists and triathletes “want to enjoy” the experience of competing in neighbouring Orkney next week.
Cyclist Robin Atkinson, who is about to compete in his seventh Island Games, joked his aim for the event was just to “survive”.
But the experienced athlete admits he and his team of three dedicated cyclists would like to be “in the mix” at the top of the field next weekend.
“I’m not going to win any medals,” Atkinson told Shetland News.
“It’s just about representing Shetland in the best way possible.
“When you show up expecting results it’s putting pressure on yourself that you shouldn’t need. You stop enjoying it.
“We just want everybody to turn up and work hard, and just do their best.”
Shetland has a team of eight cyclists, but Atkinson, Grant Ferguson and Ross Osborn are the three who will compete solely in the cycling events.
The other five members of the team – Andy Aitken, Andrew Grant, Cameron Read, Lynsey Henderson and Louise Parr – will take part in the cycling after running the opening day’s gruelling triathlon through Stromness.
Eighteen-year-old Read is about to take part in his first Island Games, having moved to Shetland from Stornoway five years ago.
A former mountain biker, Read will compete in Orkney’s mountain biking event despite having had little to no competitive action in the past half-decade.
The teenager said he watched the Guernsey games enviously in 2023, wishing he could be taking part.
“Two years ago I was looking at it like, ‘that looks fun’, but I couldn’t go because I wasn’t old enough,” he said.
Speaking a week before the Island Games opening ceremony, Read said he had overcome a major knee injury to make it to the stage where he’s ready to compete.
“I sustained a big knee injury five months ago, so I’ve been off the bike for three months and off running,” he said.
“I did 80k on the bike this morning so it’s looking good now.”
While Read is the young face of the team, Lynsey Henderson is one of Shetland’s most decorated and experienced athletes.
She will lead team Shetland out in Kirkwall at Saturday’s opening ceremony as flag bearer, with Orkney set to be her ninth Island Games – having started aged just 16 in Gotland in 1999.
Shetland have won bronze medals in the last four women’s triathlon events at the Island Games, with Henderson part of three of those four teams, and she also won a silver medal in the individual triathlon in 2013.
She comes into the games on top form – having finished fifth in her age group at a 70.3km endurance event in Poland last month.
But Henderson remained coy when asked what her ambitions were for the games next week.
“The big aim is to get a team medal,” she said.
“We’ve won four in a row, so I want to keep our team success going.
“My training has been going pretty well. I’m feeling fit and raring to go.”
Henderson thinks the field at this year’s triathlon – which will be held in Stromness on the morning of Sunday 13 July – is going to be “tight”.
“I wouldn’t like to say how it’s going to go. It’s going to be close,” she added.
Henderson will follow up the triathlon event by taking part in the cycling time trial on Monday, and then the road race on Wednesday.
For Atkinson, he has been putting in 10-15 hours a week training since November. He said it had been “super, super hard” but had been “going good” as he ramps up for next week.
He headed down to Orkney in April to “check the courses out” for his events.
“We would normally go a couple of days early to have a look, but we’ve not had to do that this time,” he said.
“I just went for a little refresher really.”
For the men the time trial is a 28 mile course, while the road race is a gruelling 62 miles, all through the West Mainland of Orkney.
Atkinson said he was expecting a “home from home kinda games”, with so many Shetlanders competing, coaching and cheering from the sidelines.
“It’s not going to be like Guernsey [two years ago], it’s going to be back to what the Island Games is all about,” he said.
“I’ll looking forward to being able to turn up and watch and support our other teams.”
Having had no experience of a games before, Read is looking forward to “just being there having fun” in Orkney.
“I’m looking to get the best out of myself,” he said.
“I think we have a medal chance with the team event, so I just want to do my best for the guys.
“I want to lay it all out on the line.”
Both he and Henderson pointed out that the games organisers have picked one of the steepest hills in Orkney for the triathlon event – which has to be scaled four times during the run.
“That’s going to be fun,” Read quipped.
Henderson added it was “quite a challenging course”, but said she was excited about the prospect.
Approaching this milestone games, Henderson said she is not sure if she would have gone “if it was somewhere else” other than neighbours Orkney.
Asked if that meant that this was likely to be her last Island Games, she replied: “I don’t know, because Faroe would be a good place to go…”
The 2025 Orkney Island Games gets under way with the opening ceremony at 5pm on Saturday 12 July, with the triathlon following at around 11am on Sunday 13 July.
The cycling events run from Monday to Friday.
Shetland News is pleased to say that we will be reporting from Orkney during the 2025 Island Games, providing regular coverage throughout the competition.
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