Скачать или смотреть Orkney 2025 - Men’s 10,000 metres Final

On the first evening, an Isle of Man athlete, Christa Cain, had broken a long-standing Island Games 10,000 metres record with a powerful front-running performance. 24 hours later we saw almost an exact replica in the equivalent men’s race.

In the 2023 final in Guernsey, Corrin Leeming of the Isle of Man was a debutant, and gave Saaremaa’s 2016 Olympic steeplechaser for Estonia Kaur Kivistik a tremendous race. Kaur narrowly won that one in a last-ditch sprint to the line. This time Corrin went into the race as the favourite, and duly produced a performance worthy of that billing. The other previous medallist in this event was Sean Trott of Bermuda, who had won the bronze in 2011.

The Games record had stood since 2009 to Janne Holmén of Åland, the 2002 European Marathon champion, in a time of 30:03.64, providing a target not only of setting a new record but also attempting to become the first athlete at the Island Games to run a time under 30 minutes.

Just as Christa Cain had done the previous evening, Corrin Leeming had already established a clear lead after just one of the 25 laps, and was hitting consistent lap times to put him on schedule for 30 minutes. Behind him a group of four had settled into a good rhythm, with Sean Trott just ahead of George Rice (Jersey), Charlton Debono (Gozo) and the reigning champion Kaur Kivistik. Neli Heldarskarð (Faroe Islands), James Priest (Guernsey), and Isaac Attard (Gozo) were also going well.

Corrin went through the 5km point in an unofficial time of 14:58, bang on his target pace, and that was despite adding extra distance by regularly diverting out to the water table on the back straight – not to drink but to throw water over his head on such a warm evening in Kirkwall. At around the 6km point he lapped the quartet battling for second place to move a lap clear of the entire field.

By this stage the crowd had built up to huge numbers in the beautiful late afternoon sunshine, with the end where the women’s javelin final and men's shot final were taking place being absolutely packed – as was the entire home straight. The race continued in the same vein, with Corrin still bang on 30-minute schedule and the following quartet still together.

Corrin’s final lap is shown in full, which he completed in around 69 seconds to cross the line in an outstanding time of 29:56.11 to claim a richly deserved slice of Island Games history - as well as a gold medal. It was a brilliant performance from the former triathlete who has concentrated exclusively on running since the 2023 Games in Guernsey when he competed in both disciplines. His consistency of pace was such that his 5km splits were both 14:58.

In the closing laps the following pack broke up, with George Rice and Charlton Debono pulling away from the rest. It was a close battle for the silver, which went to George with an excellent run, while Charlton added to Gozo’s growing reputation in their second Island Games with the bronze medal.

There were 12 islands represented in the race, and it was especially good to see competitors from Alderney and Greenland out on the track and giving it their all.

Pos Bib Competitor Island Result
1st 98 Corrin Leeming IOM 29:56.11 Gold
2nd 145 George Rice JER 32:03.56 Silver
3rd 49 Charlton Debono GOZ 32:05.30 Bronze
4th 198 Kaur Kivistik SAA 32:27.80
5th 12 Sean Trott BER 32:30.36
6th 23 Neli Heldarskarð FAR 32:46.84
7th 47 Isaac Attard GOZ 32:48.63
8th 78 James Priest GUE 33:26.89
9th 212 Neil Arthur SHE 34:13.65
10th 8 Benjamin Mutua ALD 34:54.25
11th 141 Rahul Kini JER 34:55.44
12th 93 Jordan Cain IOM 35:05.58
13th 169 David Grant ORK 35:17.18
14th 53 Rene Nielsen GRE 35:43.32
15th 54 Jannik Rosing GRE 35:59.33
16th 183 Craig Moar ORK 36:18.59
17th 13 Philip Woollins BER 36:59.30
18th 207 Mikk Rajaver SAA 39:12.45
DNF 241 Donald Macaskill WES