Following a 20-hour flight delay, the second group of athletes and officials made it to Gibraltar with three hours to spare and joined the rest of the squad to officially mark the start of the 18th edition of the biennial sporting festival.
In the shadows of the Overseas Territory’s famous rock and with an African coastal backdrop, track and field hurdler Peter Irving led the Caesarean contingent into the Lathbury Sports Complex with the Jersey flag aloft, before teenagers Amelie Turpin and Isaac Dodds represented their island in the traditional Games water ceremony.
International Island Games Association chairman Jorgen Pettersson made an inspiring speech to the 2,000-odd competitors sat before him – prompting them to ‘play hard, be honest, laugh a lot and enjoy life’ – before Gibraltar’s First Minister Fabian Picardo formally ended the countdown clock.
Let the Games begin.
