Final preparations for team Shetland on eve of Island Games

WATER from the Burn of Sound will make its way to Orkney tonight (Friday) to be used in the opening ceremony of tomorrow’s Island Games.

Athlete Katie Dinwoodie is team Shetland’s water carrier for the 2025 opening ceremony, and she collected water from the burn on Thursday ahead of the week-long sporting celebration.

She will have the honour of pouring water from Shetland into a specially made water feature which will flow throughout the games, with every visiting island invited to do the same.

A flask of water from the water feature is taken at the end of each games and passed to the next host island, which will be Faroe Islands in 2027.

That will be added to the water feature at the next event to represent the continuity of the games.

Water carrier Katie Dinwoodie will pour the water into a specially made feature at the opening ceremony. Photo: SIGA

Water carrier Katie Dinwoodie will pour the water into a specially made feature at the opening ceremony. Photo: SIGA

Lerwick-born Dinwoodie chose to take water from the burn, which runs off from the Sandy Loch reservoir.

Dinwoodie was a double medal winner at the 2023 games in Guernsey, taking home two bronzes in the women’s 100m and 200m races.

She will again compete in the two sprint events in Orkney next week, as well as in the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay races.

The 2025 Orkney Island Games will be opened on Saturday night by Princess Anne, with Shetland News on hand to providge coverage from that opening ceremony tomorrow.

Team Shetland will pack the NorthLink ferry from Lerwick to Kirkwall tonight, with around 175 athletes and officials – and hundreds of supporters – set to descend on Orkney for the next week.

Shetland Island Games Association chairwoman Lesley Hutchison described the event as “the biggest inter-county ever” when her and secretary Bob Kerr sat down with Shetland News to preview the games last month.

Excitement builds for Team Shetland as countdown to games ticks down

And Shetland’s team of triathletes and cyclists have said they are ready to “lay it all on the line” in their quest for medal glory.

Shetland News will be in Orkney for the full Island Games, providing medal updates, interviews and live coverage from all of the biggest sporting stories of the week.

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