An inter-island gymnastics competition is taking place at Ellan Vannin Gymnastics Club on the peripherals of the National Sports Centre later this week.

Around 100 gymnasts from eight small nations will be competing in what is a satellite competition to the main Island Games hosted by Gibraltar earlier this month that did not include the sport on this occasion.

Teams are travelling from as far away as the Cayman Islands, Aland (Finland), Gotland (Sweden), Guernsey, Jersey, Shetland, and Ynys Mon (Anglesey), along with the home nation.

With 250 people arriving in total, event organiser Lynne Spence said: ’It has been a huge challenge to pull together an event of this scale, but also incredibly rewarding.

’There have been countless volunteers helping behind the scenes to ensure that the gymnasts from all of the island nations are able to have their inter-island competition this year, with Gibraltar unable to accommodate the sport.

’We hope that the Manx public will give all of our visitors a very warm welcome as well as getting behind the island team.’

The Isle of Man will be represented by the following: senior women - Chloe Donnelly, Tara Donnelly, Kelsie Gibbs, Grace Roberts, Keely Shimmin, Reine Temporaza and Lucy Worthington; senior men - Connor Esp, Harry Eyres, Nick Harvey and Andrew Ivshin. Junior girls - Amara Brogan, Naomi Maddrell, Chloe McKenzie and Georgia Price.

The Isle of Man coaches are Valery Molchanov, Stacey Saltwell and Gennady Tysganov. Team managers: Stacey Saltwell and Simon Scanlan.

The opening ceremony is on Wednesday evening and the competition (which includes a junior contest) takes place from Thursday to Saturday inclusive.

l Tickets are available by emailing [email protected], or by phoning Helen on 421358.