Kemp’s bronze leaves Team Orkney on a high after day one

A sensational Island Games comeback from Aly Kemp was marked with a bronze medal as day one in Guernsey ended with Orkney success.

Kemp last competed on this stage in Aland in 2009 but she made up for lost time with a phenomenally-composed performance in the women’s 10,000 metres to finish third in a time of 37.26.13.

Cementing her place in second for the majority of the race, Kemp was overtaken by the Isle of Wight’s Sarah Kelland in the race’s latter stages but secured a comfortable bronze to leave Team Orkney delighted at securing its first medal.

Erika Marwick also put in a brave performance in the same event.

Earlier in the day, Claire Rendall secured a tremendous fifth place in the women’s triathlon event.

Rendall, who has only taken up triathlon in the last year, finished in 2.26.02 in an impressive performance. Alison Leitch and Jo Donaldson also crossed the finish line, while Marcus Shearer also competed in the men’s triathlon.

Orkney’s footballers put in a great performance, going toe-to-toe with Greenland, the competition’s third seeds.

Orkney had dream starts to each half, going ahead in the opening seconds through Jamie Flett and Toby MacLeod, before Greenland equalised each time in an eventual 2-2 draw.

It was a tough day for the county’s badminton side, who were defeated by the Faroe Islands and Shetland. However, a final victory against the Western Isles was secured.

Back to athletics and Max Linklater was in action in the high jump, achieving 1.75m, while Emily McArthur qualified for the 400 metre final but there wasn’t such good news from Tegan Spence who missed out.

Orkney’s bowlers also got their Island Games underway with a comfortable victory over Ynys Mon 45-3 in the open triples.