Last night in the Council Chamber at County Hall, there was a standing ovation (from Councillors and the heavily packed public gallery) for the 26 members of the Isle of Wight Youth Athletics Team, who recently returned from Corsica with a bundle of medals.
As we reported back in May, the IOW team had some amazing results at the Island Youth Games in Corsica and managed to bring home seven medals, including two golds and many personal bests.
Lee Matthews, the Council Community Leisure Development Manager explained to the chamber how the Island was first asked to take part in the Games four years ago. Twenty three Islands took part in this years Games, and the Isle of Wight and Guernsey teams were the only ones to speak English, making socialising quite challenging for the kids, but not putting them off by any means.
He went on to say that “We’ve got a proud tradition, not only of athletes, but ones that win medals.” And that’s certainly true.
When the IOW team attended the first Games, they only competed in one sport but this year the team has competed in five. In addition, four of our young athletes from the Island are now on the Olympic Development Squad. How’s that for an export?
The 26 bright yellow team tracksuits certainly brightened up the gloomy Council Chamber as the young athletes and their trainers received praise from the Council and public, and the seven medals were re-presented to those fortunate enough to reach a bronze, silver or gold position.
In addition to the medals brought home, a special award was presented to the 400m girls relay team comprising Brogan Percy, Faith Norster, Sarah Grace and Ella Bilton. The Pascha Burgoyne Award was presented for outstanding effort and high standards at the Games. Pascha was a member of the athletics team who as you may remember, died tragically earlier this year in a car accident in Bouldner. She was greatly missed at the Games and the award was presented in the memory of her contribution over the years.
The presentation was finished by extending praise to the parents of the young athletes who provide continual support and encouragement.
We really do have something to be proud of here, the enthusiasm and dedication that goes into competing at this level is awe inspiring and should be continually applauded. Well done to you all.
PS. We’ll have an audio interview with Brogan Percy (from Bonchurch) who brought home Gold going up on the Blog very soon.
