This Is Guernsey

By Aaron Scoones

GUERNSEY are backing Bermuda to host the 2013 Island Games.

It is between Bermuda and Prince Edward Island as to who will host the 20th biennial event and it will be the first time that it has been held outside Europe.

The sheer size of PEI was an important issue when the member sports of the Guernsey Island Games Association opted to support Bermuda’s bid. According to Giga’s Island Games liaison director Jon Marley, the vastness of the Canadian island swung them towards Bermuda.

Marley pointed to last summer’s Island Games in Rhodes as to why they had made their decision.

‘Prince Edward Island is so huge,’ he said.

‘You’d be travelling for an hour between venues. That was the worst thing about Rhodes and Prince Edward Island is 10 times bigger than Rhodes.

‘Bermuda is smaller and will be like back in the old days of the Island Games.’

Bermuda’s size is 21sq. miles and it has a population of 65,000.

Situated in the Gulf of St Lawrence on Canada’s east coast, Prince Edward Island is 2,194sq. miles  and has a population of around 130,000. It is the 104th largest island in the world.

Another factor swaying it Bermuda’s way was the climate.

It has a subtropical climate and they are planning to hold the Games in April when it is usually 22C.

‘It’s going to be quite hot and quite humid but it won’t be as hot as Rhodes,’ said Marley.

The estimated cost of hosting the Games is more than £1.48m., but the Bermudians believed the financial benefits could more than cover the sum in terms of tourism.

They plan to have a new sporting facility, the National Sports Centre, with an Olympic 50m size pool built in time for the Games.

Bermuda had originally bid for the 2011 event, but it was awarded to the Isle of Wight who beat them by the narrow margin of 30 votes to 25.

The member islands of the International Island Games Association will make the final decision during the next Games in Aland next year.

‘They [Bermuda] just lost out last time, so we felt this time it’s only right and proper that perhaps they got it,’ said Marley.

Article posted on 10th March, 2008 - 2.29pm