THE deadline for individual entry to the Island Games in Shetland 2005 is looming and Bermuda is poised to send a bumper crop of sports people to this exciting event. Final figures will be totted up early this month but already 158 athletes have pledged to go ? far more than the 110 that represented the island in Guernsey 2003. That was the largest sports group to ever leave the island to represent Bermuda.

Bermuda did very well to come fourth out of 24 island nations in the last games ? and the athletes are keen to go even further this time.

Bermuda Island Games chairman Jon Beard said: "It all comes down to the strength of the squad people send ? if they are sending them for competitive purposes or development purposes.

"To be honest in most of our sports we can send a squad which will be very competitive. I expect to do as well as last year but some islands are sending 200 odd athletes ? financially they haven't got the same problems as we have.

"It's a fantastic opportunity to get so many Bermudians representing Bermuda."

The local association have entries for basketball, football (women-only), volleyball, archery, squash, swimming, gymnastics, badminton, tennis, and cycling. In addition the association is waiting for confirmation from track and field.

Golf has also just come on board. Beard said: "It's great news, although it gives us a headache in terms of numbers but it's a good headache to have."

The basketball and tennis will be held in the British Mediterranean island of Gibraltar, while the other sports will all be in the Shetlands, north of Scotland.

The accommodation problem in the Shetlands has been overcome by hosting most of the teams on small cruise ships moored right along the Shetland's version of Front Street, in Lerwick.

"It will make for an interesting atmosphere, we are sharing with Cayman's and Gibraltar," said Beard.

Being equidistant from Aberdeen, Scotland, and Bergen, Norway, the Shetlands is used to considerable marine traffic ? a situation that has been further developed by Shetlands status as the centre for North Sea oil.

As a result most of the amenities are within walking distance of the harbour. The logistics of getting there are causing some exciting moments for local organisers.

The runway can only accommodate a 60-seater plane (this was the same as for Guernsey); and so ideas of chartering a plane from London or Aberdeen are being considered to go along with the two BA flights a day into Shetland from Aberdeen.

Beard said: "The alternative is an 11-hour ferry trip from Edinburgh. It's not the most exciting way to start things.

"I experienced a ferry trip with the national football team in Monserrat. We were coming from Antigua and most of the team got sea-sick."

The cost per athlete is looking to be around approximately $2,700 and the organisers and the athletes are working hard to raise the necessary funds needed for all to experience the chance to represent Bermuda in high-level competition.

Beard, who heads an organising committee of Jon Gazzard, Andrew Soares and newcomer Nick Jones said most of the sports were invigorated by the last games and have gone flat out in their preparation for Shetland.

Basketball and volleyball have pretty much been in training for these games since they returned from the last ones while swimming hope to send an even larger squad than last time, said Beard.

He said cycling and gymnastics have continued their intense training and badminton are now better prepared for the challenge.

Archery have brought in coaches and have been taking part in postal shoots with other islands.

Archers from Bermuda went to the Island Games in Guernsey in 2003 but were barred from the team competition because they lacked one player but will be a full-strength this time around.

National Archery Association of Bermuda President David Hesketh, who is team manager and competition coach, saidWe leave the final selection of the team members until early next year when we will hold a series of competitions to decide on the team members to be nominated to represent Bermuda.

"The highest scoring four men and two women will go forward and constitute a full team."

The squad members in training at the present time are: Paul Harshaw, Alan Blakemore, Edmund Fox, Ron Campbell, Collin Campbell, Jeane Butterfield and Bronya Hillier.

UK coach Tony Drabble, who also coaches two of the Great Britain squad including a current European and World record holder, will be back in Bermuda for an intensive training session in early November.

Hesketh added: "The greatest challenge for archery in Shetland will be the cold weather with the likelihood of very strong northerly winds straight from the Arctic!

"Unfortunately, this will be another totally new experience for the archery squad as our coldest winter temperatures in Bermuda are quite possibly higher than the summer temperatures in Shetland in July.

"We are just about to start experimenting with the selection of our team clothing which has to be thick enough to keep our muscles warm while providing the flexibility and stretch necessary for us to maintain our shooting form.

"There are two other unique aspects to the Shetland Island Games. Firstly, trying to get some sleep when there are 22 hours plus of daylight.

"Then we have to come to terms with the fact that the entire Bermuda team in Shetland will accommodated on a classic cruise liner moored in Lerwick harbour.

"Our concern is not so much that the vessel is only 500 feet long and can sleep nearly 600 passengers (less than a linear foot per passenger) or even that it was launched in 1948 and therefore constitutes an antique older than everyone on the team other than the team manager! No, we are worried about the stability of the vessel at anchor.

"Trying to loose your sea legs while shooting an arrow at a target 90 metres away may give the local Shetland archery team sleeping on dry land an unfair advantage!

"The one fact that is certain is that the team will have a lot of fun at these friendly games.

"We are really looking forward to seeing all the other archers that we met and got to know in Guernsey in 2003."