Hannah Riley and Elliot Baxter have been chosen as the Isle of Man’s flag bearers for the opening and closing ceremonies at this year’s NatWest Island Games.

Athlete Riley will carry the Manx flag during the opening ceremony on Saturday, June 24 in Gotland while mountain biker Baxter will do likewise at the closing ceremony on Friday, June 30.

Both made their Island Games debuts for the Isle of Man at the 1999 event in Gotland, with Riley instantly making her mark by claiming gold in the 400m hurdles and bronze in the 100m hurdles.

Two years later on home soil she bagged a brace of silvers in the 100m hurdles and the 4x400m relay, before repeating the latter silver at the Guernsey Games in 2003.

Hannah has since gone on to achieve no fewer than 18 Island Games medals so far, including six golds.

Baxter is also no stranger to success in the event, having also got his Island Games career off to a flying start by helping the Isle of Man win team time trial gold in 1999.

The veteran cyclist then bagged double gold in the individual and team mountain bike events at the 2001 Isle of Man Island Games and hasn’t looked back since, going on to win 22 medals in his seven appearances at the Games.

Traditionally the youngest member of the Island Games team is chosen to carry the Isle of Man water in the opening ceremony and this year the honour goes to gymnast Lucy Worthington.

Lucy started gymnastics at the age of five at Ellan Vannin Gymnastics Club and has been there for eight years.

She trains approximately 20 hours per week with her team-mates and under the watchful eye of her coach Valery Molchanov.

Lucy first competed for the island at the National Compulsory Finals in 2013 and has since represented the IoM and her club on numerous occasions over the past four years in the Celtic Cup, Challenge Cup, Bill Slater and British Gymnastics National Finals.

To prepare Lucy for the Island Games, her training programme has been developed to increase her difficulty value on each piece of apparatus for the FIG and team competitions and to prepare her for the set routines.

To develop Lucy’s confidence she recently competed in the English Championships in Loughborough where she finished on a respectable overall score of 43.5.

Both made their Island Games debuts for the Isle of Man at the 1999 event in Gotland, with Riley instantly making her mark by claiming gold in the 400m hurdles and bronze in the 100m hurdles.

Two years later on home soil she bagged a brace of silvers in the 100m hurdles and the 4x400m relay, before repeating the latter silver at the Guernsey Games in 2003.

Hannah has since gone on to achieve no fewer than 18 Island Games medals so far, including six golds.

Baxter is also no stranger to success in the event, having also got his Island Games career off to a flying start by helping the Isle of Man win team time trial gold in 1999.

The veteran cyclist then bagged double gold in the individual and team mountain bike events at the 2001 Isle of Man Island Games and hasn’t looked back since, going on to win 22 medals in his seven appearances at the Games.

Traditionally the youngest member of the Island Games team is chosen to carry the Isle of Man water in the opening ceremony and this year the honour goes to gymnast Lucy Worthington.

Lucy started gymnastics at the age of five at Ellan Vannin Gymnastics Club and has been there for eight years.

She trains approximately 20 hours per week with her team-mates and under the watchful eye of her coach Valery Molchanov.

Lucy first competed for the island at the National Compulsory Finals in 2013 and has since represented the IoM and her club on numerous occasions over the past four years in the Celtic Cup, Challenge Cup, Bill Slater and British Gymnastics National Finals.

To prepare Lucy for the Island Games, her training programme has been developed to increase her difficulty value on each piece of apparatus for the FIG and team competitions and to prepare her for the set routines.

To develop Lucy’s confidence she recently competed in the English Championships in Loughborough where she finished on a respectable overall score of 43.5.