Orkney riding high after medal treble Wednesday

June 28, 2017 at 9:08 pm

Donald Sinclair and Bobby Spence won their second bronzes as a team today, while Bobby won another bronze in the individual 50m 3 Position.

Orkney’s Island Games medal tally rose to seven — including another gold — as a wonderful Wednesday in Gotland saw Orkney gain a medal treble.

Just 24 hours after her 1,500m gold medal and new Games record, runner Anna Tait repeated the feat, absolutely dismantling the 5,000m record.

And just like the 1,500m, she led from the front, immediately going on the front foot to lead from the start. It was absolute domination from the Kirkwall runner, with Sarah Mercier, from Guernsey, just about managing to hold onto her coat-tails for the first four laps.

From then on however, there was only one winner as Tait sent the large and vocal Orkney contingent in the stands into a new realm of euphoria, pulling away with ease to destroy the previous 5,000m record of 17.01.00, crossing the line to wild celebrations in 16.45.06.

That left Tait to pick up her second gold in as many days.

Fellow medalists Bobby Spence and Donald Sinclair — as they have done so often in the past — had their sights set correctly once again as they picked up a bronze in the ISSF 50m prone rifle event.

The duo shot 1207 to finish four points ahead of Guernsey and claim the final podium place.

It wouldn’t be the last time Spence found himself on the final podium place however, he also claimed bronze in the 50m 3 Position event earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, 100m bronze medalist Taylah Spence qualified for the 200m final, running 25.7 — two tenths of a second quicker than 100m silver medalist Taahira Butterfield.

The final will take place tomorrow at 5.20pm.

Orkney’s golfing quartet were on the green once again, with Hamish Gorn carding the joint second-lowest score of the day with a 72. The four are sitting in joint fifth in the team event, ahead of another 18 holes tomorrow and Friday.

The archers, badminton players and swimmers were in action throughout the day.

Orkney’s cyclists took part in the road race, with Olga Hamilton finishing well, while Paul Kerr had a disappointing afternoon, being forbidden from competing due to disc brakes on his borrowed bike. His own bike has been hit by delays with the courier. Tom Lynch, Torquil Clyde and Keith Chalmers also competed.