The main body of athletes have been duly selected to represent the Isle of Wight at next summers Island Games due to be held in Orkney in July.
Daniel Eckersley will be unable to contest his favoured Steeplechase this time as the event is not included in the programme. It is an event he has won twice and at the last Games in Guernsey won silver in an exciting fight to the line. He will contest the distance races as yet to be confirmed but he is hoping to compete in his first Half Marathon at a Games after posting a superb time earlier in May in the Manchester Half. He will be joined in that event by fellow Ryde Harrier Dave Hunt, it will be his first Island Games. The Women’s Half Marathon is looking very strong with Carly Scoble, who was part of the Gold medal winning team in Guernsey and Bethany Howarth competing in her first Games. Ellen Williams is selected for the 5000m and is another debutante for these Games. The final distance athlete selected is Amy Kelland, this will be her second Games having won silver in the 10000m in Guernsey, she will be looking to go one better. She will also compete over 5000m.
Making a welcome return to the team is High Jumper Charlie Button who competed in 2019 in Gibraltar. Charlie now lives in London and is coached by Carol Jackson who has in the past coached Olympic medalist Robbie Grabarz and coaches the current UK No1 William Grimsey, so he is in good hands for his preparation.
Jacob Patey will be looking to improve upon his 5th place finishes in both the 110m and 400m Hurdles that he did in Guernsey, this time he will be joined by twin brother Noah who has switched from his event last time which was the Steeplechase. Jacob is working hard at High Jump with his coach Janice Bartlett and hopes to join Charlie in that event as well.
Archie Pearson was the youngest ever athlete to compete at a Games for the Isle of Wight and indeed from any island at a Games as he had his 15th birthday on the cut off date allowing him to compete alongside the older adult competitors. He will primarily focus on the 1500m again, but may well contest the 800m as well. Eddie Chambers will be competing over 800m in his first Island Games having posted 1:58.5 earlier this year.
Eden Canning will be competing in her third Games in the 100m Hurdles where she has been a finalist each time. Eden is currently on placement from Bath University to Frankfurt where she is training to be a PE teacher and as well as her athletics is enjoying a wide sporting experience there. This time she will be joined in the Hurdles by Sophie Hogton who having been born on the island now lives on the mainland and competes for Crawley AC. She has been one of the best Junior athletes in this event having made the final at English Schools in 2023. She is ranked 39 in the country in her first year as an U23. She is likely to compete in sprints event as well. Alongside her will be 16 year old Sophie McCallum who this year ran 12.9s the first IWAC junior athlete to break 13.0s for 100m time in 16 years! Holly Whitter will contest the Javelin, unfortunately Holly slipped in training early in the summer and broke her arm, she is now back in full training under the watchful eye of Olympian Nick Percy. Holly will also make up part of the 4 x 100m sprint relay team which is looking pretty good this coming year. She also takes on the role of the athletics Team Masseur. Finally Skyler Brown makes the team competing in the Shot Put, she has made a successful transition to the adult weight, she has also been in great form in her sprints and will also be part of the 4 x100m squad.
Graham Filer Engineering will be the athletics team kit sponsor. Graham is a veteran of the Island Games having been coached by Nick Groocock. He went to the Rhodes Games in 2007 and competed at two English Schools Championships. He said he is more than happy to give a bit back to the sport he grew up with and appreciates all the voluntary time given to him over the period of 10 years or so.
Team Managers Nick Groocock and Nicola Canning are looking forward to leading this team of talented athletes. Cost and logistics have been difficult to manage and have had an impact upon some athletes being able to take up offers of team places. Both team managers will be looking to gain support form local business’ to help. The team are able to sell advertising space around the track, contact nickgroo@aol.com for further details.
