Presented since 1993 by the Jersey Evening Post to a person showing outstanding sporting qualities in an Island Games, not necessarily for winning but for a special achievement or effort in taking part, the winner from the Rhodes Games will be announced tomorrow evening at Fort Regent.
The nominations, as usual, are extremely strong ones: Paul Clements caught everyone’s eye when he took the gold in the men’s triathlon in his final Games at the age of 41.
Battling past team-mate Daniel Halksworth on the final leg of the race, Clements set the tone for Jersey as they took the top three positions.
Halksworth is also nominated after showing true spirit and commitment to compete in the swimming pool all week where he picked up seven medals before going on to silver and team gold in only his third ever triathlon.
The ladies’ half marathon replicated the triathlon in producing two suggestions for the award after runners Amanda Brown and Carol Knight coped with the draining heat, lack of specialist fluids and a buffeting wind over the 13.1 mile course.
Brown was nominated for winning the silver medal in an impressive 1.27.43 hr and Carol Knight for finishing the distance with horrific blister burns on her feet to ensure the pair won team silver.
The athletics track was also the place for a third nomination as 21-year-old Lauren Thérin collected three golds from javelin, shot and discus – equalling the triple feat of Aland’s Linda Liljeroos in 1993 – and breaking Liljeroos’s Games’ discus record from the same Games in the Isle of Wight.
The final nominee is pistol king Dave Ward, who collected his 50th Island Games medal midweek and didn’t stop there – collecting 11 medals in total at the age of 57.
When the announcement is made at Education, Sport and Culture’s vin d’honneur for the Jersey team tomorrow, the recipient will be joining a long list of former sporting heroes – swimmer Rebecca Brewer in 1993; cyclist Jason Luce in 1995; runner Richard Howard in 1997; badminton player Ian Coombs-Goodfellow in 1999; hurdler Peter Irving in 2001; swimmer Katherine Gamlin in 2003 and table tennis stalwart Eugene Ellis in 2005.
