ROADRUNNER CHRONICLES

NATIONAL WINTER GAMES AUSTRIA
Innsbruck - Tirol

EURO STARS

The Isle of Man Special Olympics group sent a floor hockey team to Innsbruck, Austria last weekend to gain some valuable experience in the European Championships. It was quite evident after the first few games on the morning of the first day that the Isle of Man had moved forward a considerable amount since competing in the Olympic World games of 2005, they hammered a representative Austrian team Salzburg 19 goals to 5 and then after 15 minutes rest beat Gibraltar 9 goals to 3. Gibraltar had beaten the Isle of Man 12 goals to 4 back in 2005. Team Captain Lawrence Dyer from Ramsey scored an incredible 14 goals during these two games. It was also evident to the Austrian organisers that they needed to field the full Austrian team so after lunch in the Olympian world Stadium they did and were still beaten 12 goals to 2. After 15 mins rest the Gibraltar team tried again this time with far more success with 3 minutes to go Gibraltar had a two goal advantage but Chelsea Scott scored and seconds later Andrew Richardson equalised, with the clock running down John Stephens picked up the puck in his own area dribbled through the forest of Gibraltan players to score a brilliant individual goal to win the game. The Next day started the same way only this time the Gibraltar coach was to pull off a stroke of tactical genius and teach the Manx and its coaches a very good tactical lesson, all the teams were now very tired and the Manx teams all out attacking style was taking its toll on its players and again in the very last match of the competition we had to play the Gibraltar team but in the first quarter the Manx team were 2 goals down and then lost midfield player Andrew Richardson to injury. Daniel Kelly scored to make it 2 goals to 1 down then Gibraltar scored 2 more pulled the whole team back round the goal area making it impossible for the Manx team to score. With the Isle of Man team trying everything they knew to break this defence wall down they left gaps at the back and every chance Gibraltar had they broke away and scored with Gibraltar coach constantly shouting out orders from the sidelines. The final score was 8 – 1 to Gibraltar but the Isle of Man team had already won the Tournament winning 5 out of the 6 games. Chelsea Scott was picked out by the Manx Coaches as the player of the tournament running herself into the ground for the Manx teams cause and will no doubt have very sore wrists for quite a few days to come. The Manx team wore a blue football strip donated by the Mitre Hotel in Kirk Michael on day one, and a strip donated by the Isle of Man Football Association on day two, our thanks to them and the many local residents that donated funds in support of the team it was all greatly appreciated as the experience gained will help the team considerably in next years Winter Olympics in America.

GIBRALTAR NATIONAL GAMES 2008

Swimming Results

Cat 1 25m Backstroke

2nd Andrew McGeehan, 5th Rebecca Maller

Cat 2 2nd Oliver Riddell 3rd Katie Dulson

Cat 1 25m Breaststroke

1st Holly Kimmons

Cat 2 4th Michelle Cameron 5th Katie Dulson

Cat 1 25m Freestyle

3rd Oliver Riddell

Cat 1 50m Freestyle

1st Andrew McGeehan 2nd Holly Kimmons

4th Michelle Cameron 5th Rebecca Maller

Relay 4 X 25m Freestyle

2nd Holly Kimmons, Michelle Cameron, Rebecca Maller & Andrew McGeehan

GIBRALTAR 8 - 0 (6-0 Ht) ISLE of MAN

ISLE OF MAN 3 - 4 (0-4 Ht) SPAIN

Top: Team Isle of Man

Stuart Marques, Jenny Jones, Jason Fox, Andrew Richardson

David Hudson Capt, Katie Saunders, Gareth Cowan, Mark Henry.

Above : Katie Saunders receives her medal from Chief Constable

Accross : Jenny Jones scored the penalty started the fight back and nearly gave the Islands it's first draw.


Paul Clucas wins Gold and Karl Monaghan takes Bronze in 100m	Lindsey Fox wins Gold and Emily Davies 6th in 100metres


Rebecca & Paul carry the flag at opening ceremony	The Athletic Squad


David Hudson with Olympic torch	Tomas (5th) Lindsey (3rd) and Peter Taylor 2nd in Shot Put

Athletic Results

Cat 3 Long Jump 3rd Paul Clucas 4th Karl Monaghan

Cat 4 Long Jump 2nd Peter Taylor 3rd Lindsey Fox

Cat 1 Shot 3rd Karl Monaghan 4th Tomas Dawe

Cat 3 Shot 2nd Lindsey Fox 3rd Paul Clucas 4th Emily Davies

Cat 2 200 metres 1st Lindsey Fox 6th Emily Davies

Cat 4 200 metres 5th Peter Taylor

Cat 4 100 metres 4th Thomas Dawe

Cat 2 100 metres 1st Peter Taylor 5th Emily Davies

Cat 3 100 metres 1st Paul Clucas 3rd Karl Monaghan

4 x 100 metres Relay 2nd Isle of Man (New PB for the team by 7seconds)

Thomas Dawe 1st, Lindsey Fox 2nd, Paul Clucas 3rd and Peter Taylor 4th.

Special Olympians head to Gibraltar

A SQUAD of Isle of Man Special Olympic athletes will be leaving the Island, tomorrow, Tuesday, to travel to Gibraltar where they will compete in the Gibraltar National Games.

A total of 20, all with learning disabilities, have been selected to compete in athletics, football and swimming events against strong Gibraltarian sides. Six swimmers will be going with coach Barry Dulson, six athletes with coach Graham Davies and eight footballers with their newly appointed coach David Hattersley.
Gibraltar has a very popular Special Olympic organisation which has been in existence for many years and holds a national tournament on the Rock every year.
Other teams attend by invitation only and these are usually from the surrounding regions in Spain, but links with the Isle of Man led to an invitation to send a football team over in 2007 and the success of that trip led in turn to the enlarged squad being invited this year.
Head of the Manx delegation Beryl Wooldridge said: 'It is a great honour for us to be asked to participate in the games in Gibraltar and is testament to the high regard in which the Isle of Man Special Olympic team is held internationally.
'We are looking forward to a successful trip which will not only provide good competition for our sportsmen and women but also be an opportunity to send some new and younger athletes away which will be a great all round experience for them.'
This is a short trip with the team returning to the Island on Saturday but will no doubt be exhausting for the athletes concerned who will be involved in competitions each day in the Mediterranean heat followed by an extensive programme of local activities and hospitality.