2023 Guernsey Island Games: 14 Sports You Can Look Forward to Supporting
by Karen Rollins Apr 3, 2023
The host country chooses from 18 sports when they decide on the schedule for the Island Games. We’ve put together some details on where you can see the 14 sports that will be held in venues around Guernsey in 2023.
Click here to see the full sports programme.
Archery
Archery has been part of the NatWest International Island Games since the 1987 Games which were hosted in Guernsey. This event will take place at Rovers AC on the West Coast.
The range has been certified by Archery GB and is approved for holding World Record Status shoots. The range is on the coast, so is susceptible to a breeze.
Athletics
Athletics events will be held at Osmond Priaulx Memorial Playing Fields, Footes Lane where there is a dedicated eight lane athletics track. The venue’s capacity is 5,200 spectators standing and 720 seated.
Some of the events to look forward to will include men’s and women’s 100m, javelin, high jump, hammer throw, shot put, discus and 4x100m and 4x400m relay races.
Badminton
Rohais Badminton Hall on the outskirts of St Peter Port will host the Badminton. This venue has eight wooden semi-sprung flooring courts, six of which will be used for competition, overlaid with badminton court mats.
Basketball
Men’s and women’s basketball matches will be played at the Beau Sejour Leisure Centre, St Peter Port and St Sampsons High School. In 2019 Cayman Islands won gold in the men’s and Menorca claimed the women’s gold medals.
Cycling
Cycling has been part of the NatWest International Island Games since the inaugural Games of 1985 and has featured in all but one of the Games since then.
In 2023, cyclists will compete along coastal routes around the island starting at various venues including Delancey Park, St Sampsons and the St Peter Port seafront.
Football
Various club pitches around the Island will be used to host men’s and women’s football matches during the 2023 Island Games. Some of the venues will include Corbet Field, Victoria Avenue Playing Field and St Martin’s Athletic Club, Blanches Pierre Lane.
Golf
Golf first featured in the 1991 Island Games in Aland. For Guernsey 2023, the individual and team’s competitions will be held at L’ancresse, a links course in the north of the Island. There are two clubs based at L’ancresse, the Royal Guernsey Golf Club and L’ancresse Golf Club.
Indoor Bowls
Indoor Bowls has only appeared twice before in the NatWest International Island Games; once in 1987 in Guernsey and again in 2005 in the Shetland Islands. This event will take place at the Guernsey Indoor Bowls Centre which is a purpose-built, international six-lane facility.
Sailing
Sailing and sailboard events will be held at the Guernsey Yacht Club, near the historic Castle Cornet in St Peter Port. Sailing will take place in the Little Russel between Guernsey and Herm Islands. The boats will leave and enter via St. Peter Port Harbour.
Shooting
Shooting has featured in every Island Games since the inaugural 1985 event on the Isle of Man. Several ranges and sites around the Island will be used for the shooting competitions and all of them, apart from Beau Sejour, are outside venues. Shooting competitions will feature air rifles, clay sporting, fullbore and pistol shooting.
Swimming
Beau Sejour Leisure Centre will host the swimming events. Spectators can look forward to the men’s and women’s 400m individual medley, 50m breaststroke, 100m backstroke and the mixed 4x50m freestyle medley, amongst other events.
Table tennis
Table tennis fans will enjoy watching the Island Games competition at the Guernsey Table Tennis Centre, Hougue du Pommier, Vale. This is a dedicated facility with 20 tables. There will be seven events including the men’s and women’s singles and doubles and the mixed doubles.
Tennis
The Guernsey Tennis Club will host seven tennis competitions during the 2023 Island Games. The last time tennis was played in the Gibraltar 2019 Games, Jersey’s Stuart Parker took the gold in the men’s singles event and Gibraltar’s Amanda Carreras won the women’s singles gold.
Triathlon
Triathlon is a relatively new sport to the Island Games and first featured in the 2001 Games on the Isle of Man. In Guernsey it will be held along stunning coastal routes, with swimming starts at Havelet Beach and Fort Grey (L’Eree side), and finishes at Fort Grey (south) and South Esplanade, St Peter Port.
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