Athletes

Competion gets underway this morning with Team IOM competing in the Swimming, Triathlon and Lawn Bowls at various stages today.

First athlete to compete with be Alex Bregazzi who will have his 16th birthday at the games on Saturday at 10.47 in the 400m Freestyle. He will be followed by Laura Kinley and Niamh Robinson in the 50m Breaststroke, Charlotte Atkinson in the 100m Freestyle, Grant Halsall in the 100m Backstroke and Guy Davies in the 200m Breaststroke.

Swimming takes place in the Tolcross International Pool not far from the village in Glasgow.

This afternoon Team IOM will compete in the Triathlon for the very first time with Andy Nash flying the Manx flag at Strathclyde Country Park against a world class field. It could be very hot with temperatures around 25*C so it will be a demanding event.

Bernice McGreal our Lawn Bowler will compete in two matches today one of which is against the bronze medallist from Delhi Kelsey Cottrell at Kelvingrove in West Glasgow

We all wish our athletes the best of luck and they will definitely make our island proud.

For the remaining athletes not competing today they will be at training sessions at the various venues across the city.

The draw for Boxing will take place today so we will find out who Kystian will face in his first bout on Friday.

Opening Ceremony

Team IOM got a fantastic reception as they marched into Celtic Park last night. Tim Kneale our double trap shooter and current World Record Holder carried the flag for the Isle of Man which was a tremendous honour for the Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist from Delhi 2010.

The athletes thoroughly enjoyed the experience in front of 40,000 people and Her Majesty the Queen.

Weather

The weather was sunny and very hot yesterday and after a cool start this morning is set to be very hot again.

Snippets

Kristian met Prince Charles yesterday in the gym. It’s not the first time the boxer has met the Prince of Wales as he met him at the Delhi Games.

A nice touch from the Opening Ceremony was messages from Scottish Children to the athletes which were sprayed amongst the teams. Some real inspiration.

The Manx Tartan hats which Team IOM wore to the opening ceremony proved to be very popular with the athletes and volunteers with many commenting on them as we made our way to the stadium last night.

Photo - Andrew Nash