A 200-day countdown to the 2023 Island Games, to be held on Guernsey, has begun.
The milestone comes at the same time that event organisers have published an end of year review to keep everyone informed of their progress.
“There are so many aspects of the Games to look forward to, and as we mark the 200-day countdown the excitement is palpable, and we cannot wait to welcome the other 23 islands,” said Deputy Games Director Emma Beardsell.
The 2023 Island Games are due to start on Saturday July 8 2023 and end on Friday July 14. To find out whether or not you now need a travel authorization to attend the event in Guernsey following Brexit, check this page.
The Island Games, which were originally intended to be a one-off sporting event, were first held in 1985 as the Inter-Island Games, as part of the Isle of Man International Year of Sport.
The director, Geoffrey Corlett, made an effort to not only include islands surrounding the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands, but also invited Iceland, Malta, and territories such as Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
The 1985 Games were such a success that it was decided a similar event would be held on Guernsey two years later. Over the years the event has grown substantially under the organisation of the International Island Games Association (IIGA), and has been held in Guernsey twice more, in 1997 and 2003.
The last edition was held in Gibraltar in 2019, and boasted the involvement of around 2,000 competitors from 22 islands across 14 different sports.The Isle of Wight has held the Games twice, in 1993 and 2011.
Next year’s event on Guernsey will mark the 19th edition of the competition. Guernsey won the bid for the 2021 Games in July 2016, following the Faroe Islands’ withdrawal from hosting. However, the event was later postponed to 2023 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This means that Orkney, who were originally awarded the right to host the 2023 Games, will now host in 2025. Possible future hosts, including the Faroe Islands and the Falklands, are also being pushed out by two years as well.
The 2023 Guernsey Island Games will involve the participation of up to 3,000 athletes, coaches and officials from 24 member islands. Over 1,000 local volunteers have signed up to help with the running of the event, and have already begun their training.
Lead director Julia Bowditch has said she is confident the Games will be a success, saying “Preparations are going really well, we’re lucky that all our 14 sports have excellent managers in place”.
Beardsall echoed this sentiment, saying: “There are lots of logistics involved with welcoming 3,000 athletes and team members, and expectations are high, but we are feeling positive about delivering a very special and memorable event.”
Nevertheless, Bowditch has acknowledged that there have been some difficulties in bringing the Games together during pandemic times. “Due to the shutdown there’s been a lot of changes to the way things are done,” she previously told BBC Radio Guernsey.
“Although we had done a lot of work and were ready to host the games, in essence it is like starting all over again as things change” she said. “Now we’re working on making sure we go the extra mile and all the athletes are really warmly welcomed to Guernsey”.
One of the biggest challenges faced, according to Bowditch, was finding suitable accommodation for all the incoming visitors, especially following the addition of the Maltese island Gozo to the roster of member territories.
“Obviously accommodation is the biggest challenge for any Island Games, and especially for us coming off the pandemic, and our numbers have increased with an extra island”, she said.
The pressure increased after plans to house 700 athletes in a ‘glamping village‘ fell apart.
“We have some really large teams of over 150 and some of the hotels in Guernsey are much smaller, so we wanted to provide the option for the teams where they had the option of all staying together on one site,” Bowditch stressed.
“We showed them the glamping option and there was very limited response – their preference was to stay in hotels and self-catering,” she explained.
Nevertheless, the director stressed that there is now suitable accommodation
in place for all those wanting to attend the games.
“Numbers have gone up over the two years, so that has been a bit of a challenge, but we’ve been working with the islands so they’re all currently allocated to an accommodation provider”, she added.
