Excitement builds ahead of 2025 Island Games

"I'm really excited - I think the games are really, really important," said Guernsey Athletics development officer Tom Druce

Excitement is building in Jersey and Guernsey with only six months to go until the 2025 International Island Games.

Athletes from both islands will travel to Orkney to compete in the 20th annual event, which plans to be a celebration of sport, culture, and community.

From 12 to 18 July, Orkney will welcome about 2,000 athletes from 24 island groups around the world to compete in 12 sports.

Guernsey Athletics development officer Tom Druce said: "I'm really excited - I think the games are really, really important."

The last Island Games were held in Guernsey in 2023

Orkney is one of the smallest islands in terms of population to have ever hosted the Island Games in its 39-year history and does not have the hotel infrastructure to accommodate everyone attending.

It means some athletes will stay in dormitories set up in schools while others will be in self-catering accommodation or hostels.

Mr Druce said this year's event would be "very different" to the last games held in Guernsey in 2023, but he added they would be "just as important in some different ways".

"We're supporting it as much as we can and a lot of the athletes that were successful here in Guernsey will be going to Orkney," he said.

"We now have a waiting list in a lot of our age groups that wasn't there before the last Island Games.

"We've seen a lot of the kids going to Orkney, who saw it here last year but didn't get to experience it, so it's really given them the appetite."

'Jersey welcome'

Jersey Island Games manager Morag Obarska said preparations were well under way with only six months to go to the event.

"Now we start getting the teams listed, kit fitting done, there's a bit to do over the next few months," she said.

"I'm going up [to Orkney] a couple of days before... I just want to see where everyone's accommodated, make sure all the fine points are ready, and to give the athletes a good Jersey welcome.

"I know there's been a lot of talk about the accommodation, but to be honest, it is what it is and we've just got to knuckle under."

A combined number of 160 athletes and managers are heading to the games to represent the island, she said.