PICTURES: Island Games in Orkney through a Caithness lens
I had the honour of gaining media accreditation for the 20th International Island Games, held in Orkney for one week in mid-July. A total of 24 islands from far-flung places such as Greenland, the Falkland Islands, Bermuda and Gozo competed in 12 sports. The Scottish islands were Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
I received confirmation in March and my search for accommodation drew a blank unless I booked a room for around £500 per night in a Kirkwall hotel. With over 2100 competitors and officials due to arrive in Orkney in the height of the tourist season, accommodation was bound to be an issue.
The organisers took over a few schools, cleared out numerous classrooms and hired 800 airbeds to form dormitories. They also hired 200 “pop-up” portable buildings and put two beds in each.
Luckily, one Kirkwall hotel had a late cancellation, and I got a room for the last three days of the games. The next issue was how to get off Orkney the day after the games finished. The three sailings of the Gills ferry were fully booked and so were two of the Scrabster ferry sailings. I managed to book the 6.30am sailing and had breakfast alongside some Orkney farmers who were going to the Caithness Show.
The impressive Pickaquoy sports centre in Kirkwall, known as the “Picky,” was the focal point for the games. It hosted the media centre, archery, athletics, badminton, squash, swimming and the closing ceremony. There was a mini outdoor food “village” and a shop selling merchandise. Every sport had a dedicated TV camera and all events were livestreamed on YouTube. Results were posted on the website within a few hours.
There were around 900 volunteers dressed in distinctive orange shirts who made sure everything ran smoothly, provided help and guidance, and most importantly gave a warm Orkney welcome to competitors and spectators alike. I saw some volunteers from Caithness helping at the badminton.
Every event was free to spectate, and dedicated seating was provided at many venues. This ensured bumper crowds. The evening sessions of the athletics attracted around 5000. The men’s football match between Orkney and Shetland had a crowd of 2000 – and this was for deciding who came fifth.
As the venues and accommodation were spread all over Kirkwall and the Orkney Mainland, special buses ran every 20 minutes and these were free to competitors, officials, volunteers and the media.
I have to say that it felt like a professionally organised mini-Olympic Games. I attended the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Island Games in Orkney were equally good, in all respects. The venues and facilities were first class. The Picky centre had its athletics track replaced with a brand new six-lane track, the sailing club got 24 brand new boats and the recently formed gymnastics club received a full set of Olympic-standard equipment.
Everything ran like clockwork and there was keen competition watched by large, enthusiastic crowds. There were media people everywhere as most islands brought their own TV and radio crews and photographers.
I wanted to catch the gymnastics in Stromness Academy and the athletics at the Picky in Kirkwall. This meant a lot of travelling back and forth by car. I also caught two cycling events – the men’s mountain bike cross-country event at Binscarth Farm, just outside Finstown, which had the riders cycling through thick woods and up a steep hill, and the men’s criterium race around the streets of Kirkwall, where a mile of road was completely barriered off on both sides. There was some squash and badminton thrown in for good measure.
I was surprised to see a person from Caithness competing. Shona Mackay is originally from Shetland and made it into the Shetland badminton team. I caught a bit of her ladies’ doubles quarter-final match against Orkney, which they lost. The organisers had to ban horns and hooters at the badminton because the capacity crowd made too much noise on the first day.
Everywhere I went the crowd support for Orkney competitors was tremendous (i.e. loud!) and this spurred Orkney to win their best-ever medal haul of 11 golds, 11 silver and nine bronze. They obviously had been training extra-hard during the years leading up to the games and it paid off.
The star was sprinter Taylah Paterson, who won the 100m, the 200m, the 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay. I managed to get a photo of her winning the 200m and later proudly showing her four golds to me.
My highlight was getting my photo taken with the distinctive Island Games mascot, Ola the orca. Everywhere she went, competitors and spectators had to get a selfie with her.
The weather was outstanding for the whole week, with clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid-20s. Poor Ola must have struggled inside the very warm costume.
The sunshine produced a sight that was unimaginable, for Orkney at least. The sand in the sand pit was so hot in the evening that it became too loose and fine to get an accurate measurement. The officials had to water the sand with a watering can, to make the sand coarse and “sticky”.
On the last evening, I attended the impressive closing ceremony where the competitors assembled in groups of their sport, rather than per island, and proudly marched around the athletics track before the games flag was handed over to the Faroe Islands who will be hosting the next event in 2027. A busman’s holiday might be on the cards!
James Gunn has been providing top-quality sports images for the Caithness Courier and John O’Groat Journal for 17 years. This year he was shortlisted for the Sports Photographer of the Year title at the Scottish Press Awards for the 10th time, with an entry featuring images from surfing, cycling, football and rugby.