6 May 2014

International Island Games - Jersey 2015

The Western Isles Island Games Associations (WIIGA) cycling team at the Bermuda Island Games in 2013 had a very successful trip - our lady cyclists, Kerry Macphee and Christina Mackenzie, won team bronze in the Time Trial and Kerry won an individual bronze in the town centre Crit Race. The ladies would have done well in the Road Race as well but they did not compete because they were too busy winning individual and team gold medals in the Triathlon!!

Our men did not win medals but gained fabulous experience of competing at such a high level - several of the other islands had professional bike riders in their teams.

Race reports of the Bermuda Games can be found here.

To be eligible to compete at the games, you have to have been born in the Western Isles or have been a pemanent resident of the islands for at least 12 months of the period between the last games and the May of the year of the games. Full criteria can be found on the WIIGA web site.

There are three road races (Road Race, Time Trial and Crit) and two mountain bike races (XC Race and Crit).

Anyone interested in competing in any of these events at the Jersey games next year should get in touch with me at wiiga@wiiga.com . Please include details of your experience. Ideally, you should have competed in races but strong cyclists who think they can make the grade should not rule themselves out just because they lack race experience. Local riders will be expected to take part in club rides/training sessions so that I can assess their standard and monitor progress. Mainland riders will be expected to be actively training and racing.

Gavin Earons