Ynys Môn Island Games Association

Six weeks ago we were at the end of a fantastic week on Guernsey for the XIX edition of the Island Games. The week was full of action, records, medals and entertainment. Competition was fraught, exciting, competitive but friendly. Ynys Môn took a team of 116 competitors plus officials with the aim of building on the last Island Games four years ago and beginning preparations for the 2027 Games on Anglesey.

Expectations were overachieved with a record-breaking week of medals for Ynys Môn.

18 medals in total = our most ever

6 Gold medals = our most ever

7 Silver medals = our most ever  

But beyond that there were personal bests, Island Records and best Island Games performances. We’ll take a look back at that incredible week sport by sport in alphabetical order.  

Photos can be found at https://ymiga.com/guernsey-2023-photos/  

Athletics

This was our Athletes finest performance at the Island Games.

5 Gold medals, 4 Silver medals and 2 Bronze medals. Never before had the team won more than 2 Golds in one Games.

It helped having Cari Hughes and Osian Perrin available to represent the island for the very first time, both picking up a Gold. But also Iolo Hughes’s continued participation gives the young athletes so much experience around them. With his 2 Gold medals in Guernsey adding to the 4 medals he’s won previously he is now 2^nd in Ynys Môn’s best Island Games competitor list. He’s also 3^rd for most decorated.

Aside from the medals it was incredible in terms of Island Records. 14 in total were broken however 3 were broken twice and 1, Women’s 200m, was broken 3 times all by Ffion Roberts.

Here’s the list of record breakers:

Name			Event	Round	Result
Zachary	Price	M	100m	Semi-final 1	11.02
Zachary	Price	M	100m	Final	10.75
Cameron	Jones	M	200m	Heat 1	22.63
Cameron	Jones	M	200m	Semi-final 1	22.26
Ffion	Roberts	F	200m	Heat 3	25.19
Ffion	Roberts	F	200m	Semi-final 1	25.02
Ffion	Roberts	F	200m	Final	24.54
Ffion	Roberts	F	400m	Heat 1	56.58
Ffion	Roberts	F	400m	Final	55.20
Iolo	Hughes	M	800m	Final	1:52.15
Cari	Hughes	F	800m	Heat 2	2:15.12
Iolo	Hughes	M	1,500m	Final	3:52.25
Cari	Hughes	F	1,500m	Final	4:20.42
Osian	Perrin	M	5,000m	Final	14:11.85
Cai	Jones	M	4 x 100m	Final	42.69
Zachary	Price	M	4 x 100m	Final	42.69
Ewan	Jones	M	4 x 100m	Final	42.69
Cameron	Jones	M	4 x 100m	Final	42.69
Eli	Jones	F	4 x 100m	Heat 1	48.24
Teleri	Jones	F	4 x 100m	Heat 1	48.24
Non	Redvers Jones	F	4 x 100m	Heat 1	48.24
Ffion	Roberts	F	4 x 100m	Heat 1	48.24
Cari	Hughes	F	4 x 400m	Final	3:58.84
Teleri	Jones	F	4 x 400m	Final	3:58.84
Non	Redvers Jones	F	4 x 400m	Final	3:58.84
Ffion	Roberts	F	4 x 400m	Final	3:58.84
Patrick	Harris	M	Shot Put	Final	14.75m
Patrick	Harris	M	Discus	Final	46.27m

  On top of all that there were multiple PBs:

Name			Event	Round	Result
Cai	Jones	M	100m	Final	10.91
Eli	Jones	F	100m	Final	12.39
Cameron	Jones	M	200m	Semi-final 1	22.26
Ffion	Roberts	F	200m	Final	24.54
Eli	Jones	F	200m	Final	25.15
Cian	Gordon-Clark	M	400m	Heat 1	55.47
Non	Redvers Jones	F	400m	Heat 2	1:00.89
Iolo	Hughes	M	800m	Final	1:52.15
Tudur	Lloyd	M	1,500m	Final	4:06.95
Miguel	Jenkins	M	5,000m	Final	16:22.41
Megan	Roberts	F	100m Hurdles	Final	18.79
Ben	Sergeant	M	3,000m Steeplechase	Final	10:11.48
Harri	Morgan	M	3,000m Steeplechase	Final	10:16.21
Patrick	Harris	M	Shot Put	Final	14.75m
Cadi	Edwards	F	Shot Put	Final	7.36m
Cadi	Edwards	F	Javelin	Final	15.74m
Dion	Griffith	M	Half Marathon	Final	1:12:24
Robert	Mansell	M	Half Marathon	Final	1:18:07

Then of course we now hold another Island Games record thanks to the remarkable performance by Osian Perrin in the Men’s 5,000m. He controlled the final and ended up racing against himself and the clock. This record joins the records held in Archery by Rhys Jones (Men’s Recurve Head to Head Knockout – 2005) and in Shooting by Tom Thomas (Men’s English Sporting Individual – 1997). Athletics coordinator, Barry Edwards, was rightly congratulated on his teams performance by being given the honour of carrying the Ynys Môn flag at the closing ceremony. It’ll be tough to beat the Guernsey Games for the Athletics team.   

Badminton

Over half of the team were newcomers to the Island Games. 13th place out of 17 in the Team Event was the highest position for Ynys Môn since 1997. This included victories against Western Isles and Bermuda.

There was also improvement in the mixed doubles as Lowri Jones and Mathew Rankenhohn reached the Rd of 16. The last time Ynys Môn got this far was in 1997 and like this year the team lost to Guernsey.  During the week, all seven of our badminton players picked up at least one victory during a very busy week.    

Basketball

It was the first time Ynys Môn sent a basketball team to the Island Games since Rhodes in 2007. Then it was 8^th position, this time 7^th. This could have been different if the two matches narrowly lost to the Faroe Islands had gone our way, with the team missing out on a bronze medal match by just FOUR points!

It was fantastic to see us competing in the basketball competition once again and hopefully it’ll be the start of many more appearances at the Island Games.   

Bowls (Indoor)

Another returning sport for Ynys Môn, Shetland in 2005 was the last time we competed in the bowls. Adrienne Edwards and Nia Rogers were both in the team then too. They were joined by Ann and Raymond Worthington this time and the 4 of them had a brilliant week among all the other teams. It was a great effort from them all especially when you consider that they don’t play indoor bowls but crown green which is very different. They were also up against some excellent other teams.  Despite this, Ann picked up a Singles win against Alderney; and Adrienne and Nia beat Falkland Islands in the Pairs.  

Cycling

Gwenno Hughes was a team all by herself in the cycling, although assisted by Rob Mansell with preparations. She came into these games having finished 4^th in the Town Criterium and 5^th in the Time Trial back in Gotland in 2017 at a very young age. Now 6 years older, stronger and more experienced Gwenno battled her way to a Bronze in the Time Trial and a great 7^th place in the Road Race, an event suited to those with teams around them.  

Football

With no football competition in Gibraltar in 2019 it was held as an inter-games on Anglesey the same year. What a tournament it was with the women picking up the Silver medal and the men Gold. It was going to be hard to match 4 years on. The women had never finished above 6^th place outside of the inter-games and hadn’t actually won an Island Games game since last on Guernsey in 2003. So to beat Guernsey on their own turf and then to beat Jersey by coming from 2-0 down was fantastic. 5^th place and so much to build on. If only we could have changed the first 10 minutes of the loss to Western Isles.

For the men it was 22 years since their last Island Games final appearance and in that time 5^th was the highest they’d achieved. The group stage was comfortable for the team with victories over Shetland, Falkland and the Isle of Man. A young fit Bermuda side looked a tough challenge in the first 20 minutes of the semi-final but soon the experience of the Ynys Môn team was clear to see. Unfortunately, the final wasn’t the game we wanted to remember. But it was brilliant to have made it that far and once again more to build on for 2 years’ time in Orkney.  

Golf

Another sport we returned to this year after a 14 year hiatus. We sent a team of 4 who had mixed emotions through their 4 rounds. Conditions were tough and there was a huge roster of competitors. Jack Carter came out best for Ynys Môn finishing 8^th out of the 74 competing and was only 5 shots off a medal.  In the team event, Ynys Môn finished 9^th out of 18, 33 shots off the medals.  

Sailing

Sailing started the week as our most successful sport in terms of Gold medals and Dom Breen-Turner just 1 Gold away from becoming Ynys Môn’s most successful competitor. However the start of the week wasn’t favourable with no wind for the first 4 races. Once it finally did pick up there was some catching up to do. Dom finished 1^st in 4 of the next 6 races and 2^nd once. This pulled him up to second and so close to the Gold but it wasn’t too be this year. Good solid performances from the other 3 helped the team achieve the bronze medal. Dom became just the 6^th Ynys Môn competitor to win at least 1 of each colour medal.  

Shooting

The shooting team had never won more than 2 medals at an Island Games before and the last medal was in 2009. This year’s achievement of a Gold, Silver and Bronze was fantastic. It all started with the Women winning the Silver in the Sporting Trap Team. This was vindication for Catriona Duffy who in 2015 had finished 3^rd in the Team but due to too few teams competing there was no Bronze medal awarded. The same was true this year but by finishing 2^nd the ladies secured the medal. David Tavernor had a brilliant week’s shooting. Firstly in the English Skeet team with Neil Fredericks where they won Bronze but then the next day he reached a shoot off in the final of the skeet where he out shot the Isle of Man athlete to win the Gold. A good week for our shooters.  

Swimming

With only 2 swimmers this year and both first timers at the Island Games and still young there weren’t expectations of them winning Gold medals. However it’s not always about the medals. Both Hywyn Jones and Elliot McCarrick had an excellent week in the pool. They competed in the same 5 events and both secured personal bests in ever race apart from one race for Elliot. That takes a lot of hard work to perform at your best over 4 days. They’ll have picked up so much valuable experience racing against the other Islands and seeing international swimmers in action.  

Name			Event	Round	Result
Hywyn	Jones	M	50m Backstroke	Prelims	31.15
Elliot	McCarrick	M	50m Backstroke	Prelims	37.28
Hywyn	Jones	M	50m Breaststroke	Prelims	35.02
Elliot	McCarrick	M	50m Breaststroke	Prelims	39.59
Hywyn	Jones	M	100m Individual Medley	Prelims	1:08.29
Elliot	McCarrick	M	100m Individual Medley	Prelims	1:16.30
Hywyn	Jones	M	50m Butterfly	Prelims	29.69
Elliot	McCarrick	M	50m Butterfly	Prelims	32.84
Hywyn	Jones	M	50m Freestyle	Prelims	27.36
Elliot	McCarrick	M	50m Freestyle	Prelims	30.09

Triathlon

The triathlon is always one of the first events of the week and it was no different this year. Sunday morning on the West coast of Guernsey and all was set for a brilliant competition. Phil Lynes was back for his 4^th Island Games and Charlie Butterfield his 2^nd but everyone else in the team was new. The water was rough for the start of the event making it challenging for even the best swimmers. Support was out in force to cheer on each competitor in turn. It was a great effort from all of our team and they enjoyed their experience of the Games.    

Gymnastics Inter-Games

We, of course, can’t miss our fantastic Gymnastics team who travelled out to Åland the week before Guernsey for the Inter-Island Games. This was because Guernsey didn’t include Gymnastics as one of the 14 chosen sports. Something always has to miss out and unfortunately that was Gymnastics, again, this year.

But it was a fantastic week for the team we sent in both the Senior and Junior competitions. The team consisted of 13 in total; 6 senior girls, 6 junior girls and 1 senior boy.  

It was Silver for the Junior Girls in the Team Event on the second day of competition and this was followed by a Silver for Cara Williams in the Junior Vault and Bronze for Shannon Williams in the Junior Floor.

The Senior Team just missed out on a medal coming in 4^th position. It’s the best position they’ve finished in for over 20 years so they should all be incredibly proud.

Gymnastics returns to the main Island Games programme in Orkney. We can’t wait to see the team there.      

It’s only 2 years now until the next Island Games which will be held in Orkney. There’ll be plenty of old face returning once again to wear the Ynys Môn colours but we’ll also have a lot of new competitors experiencing the Island Games for the very first time. Will you be part of them? See if you’re eligible to compete and how to get in touch if you are.