JERSEY’S rivalry with Guernsey has been storied and well-documented.
And on day three of the Island Games, the Channel Island neighbours locked horns in two titanic tussles.
Mountain biker Rhys Hidrio managed to fend off the attentions of home riders James Roe and Bradley Vaudin to claim a sensational gold in the men’s criterium.
The Guernsey pair worked in tandem to try to nudge in front of the Caesarean but Hidrio seized his moment around 200m out as he surged for the line.
A few hours earlier, Jersey’s table tennis stars had created history in winning their first ever Island Games team gold.
The 4-0 margin over Guernsey fails to paint an accurate picture of the tense atmosphere and back-and-forth nature of the contest.
Jordan Wykes had got Jersey off to a dream start in the first rubber before Hannah Silcock – on her 16th birthday – edged out Alice Edwards in the deciding game.
Like Silcock before him, Luc Miller was taken to a decider by Guernsey’s Garry Dodd before Silcock teamed up with her sister Kathryn to deliver the knockout blow and secure the gold.
Elsewhere, Lucy O’Sullivan’s medal-laden Games continued as she added another gold to her collection.
In another inter-Channel Island clash – O’Sullivan was part of the victorious mixed compound head-to-head team knockout event alongside Angela Perrett, Hannah Bridle, David Davies, Lloyd Glendewar, Heath Perrett and Francisco Rocha.
At Footes Lane, Olivia Allbut stormed to 400m hurdle gold while there was more success in the pool with 16-year-old Megan Hansford winning gold in the 200m individual medley and Isaac Dodds pipping teammate Thomas Deffains in the 400m individual medley. Dodds claimed his fourth gold of the Games in the 4x50m freestyle relay alongside Robbie Jones, George Storey and Ollie Brehaut.
Island Games reports Pages 55-58
