Bermuda opened their Island Games gold medal account early in the Shetlands, topping the podium twice on the first day of competition.

Powerful runner and triathlete Lynn Patchett again proved she is a winner on a bike, securing the women?s individual time trial gold and doing her bit to help her team-mates Deanna McMullen and Ashley Robinson to the top prize in the team event.

Patchett, the winner of the May 24 Marathon Derby, had set her stall out last month to claim two individual golds in Shetland this week, in the road race ? as she did in the event in 2003 ? and the time trial, which she missed out on by one hundredth of a second two years ago, with the determined athlete achieving her first aim comfortably yesterday.

Patchett, who won double gold at the Caribbean Cycling Championships in St. Lucia last November, triumphed in one hour, three minutes and 53 seconds, beating out her rival Chalime Gkiourmpouz from Rhodes into second by more than four minutes.

McMullen finished sixth and Robinson tenth in the individual even but successfully combined in the the team competition to take gold in 2:15.52.3 over the Isle of Man, who topped the medal table on opening day with four golds and two silvers.

The only other finals on offer were in the men?s time trial events, but the team of Tyler Butterfield, Kris Hedges and Geri Mewett finished one minute and 53 seconds outside a bronze medal position in their event.

The top finisher in the individual event was Hedges, finishing fifth, two seconds outside a podium place, while Mewett finished 15th and Butterfield 18th.

A separate medal table is being kept for the Shetland Games, in which Bermuda sit second, although those competitors who took part in the events in Gibraltar last week will be keen to note that the Island team claimed three golds in those events as well as a multitude of silvers and bronze.

It was a busy day for the buoyant Bermuda team, who are sharing a cruise ship with the Cayman, Faroe Islands and Gibraltar due to the lack of hotels on the Isle of Scotland, although all the 100-plus athletes were desperate to get down to competition after a wet and windy opening ceremony the previous night.

In yesterday?s action, sailor Brett Wright opened his account in perfect style, securing a bullet in the opening race of the Laser Standard Rig event, although a tenth place in the second event left him sitting sixth overnight out of the 18 competitors.

He will race seven more times tomorrow and Thursday but is tipped to be among the favourites in the competition which sees team-mates Sara Lane Pantovic and Katrina Williams open their accounts in the Radial Rigs today.

The badminton team struggled on the opening day, going down 5-0 to Greenland and 4-1 to the Isle of Man with only the pair of Rick Dorush and Ian Wilkie winning a rubber.

In other team events, Bermuda fared better with the ladies football side, playing in their first international event, walloped the home side 5-0 in their opening game.

A hat-trick from Cathy Luckhurst and strikes from Catherine Clarke and Tcshana Wade secured the victory and Vance Brown?s men will take on Guernsey today full of confidence, particularly because the Channel Islanders were thumped 6-0 yesterday by Aland.

There were mixed results for the volleyball teams, with the men taking apart Cayman 3-0 ahead of their game with Saaremaa today while the women went down 3-1 to Aland. They take on the Faroe Islands today in the next group game.

The squash team advanced to the next round in second place in their group after trouncing Orkney 5-0 before going down 3-2 to Jersey.

The team of Nick Kyme, James Stout, Michael Shrubb, Liz Martin and Denise Kyme waltzed past Orkney without dropping a set but defeats for the two ladies and Shrubb led to defeat against the Channel Islanders in the second game of the day. The semi-finals and finals of the team event take place today.

On another busy day of competition, more medals will be up for grabs while other athletes get their first taste of competition.

Jeanne Butterfield, the sole archer in the team, will compete in the women?s recurve final while Garth Thomson and Neil de Ste Croix go in the moutain bike criterium and Mel Caines takes on Adam Bews of Orkney in the first round of the men?s squash singles.

The seven gymnasts representing the Island ? Kalena Astwood, Samantha Astwood, Kaisey Griffith, Kristin Heyliger, Hannah King, Casey Lopes and Caitlyn Mello ? compete in the individual and team floor and vault competitions.

Swimmers Darren Woods, Trevor Johnson and Lara Loescher also begin competition today in their various events.