Some 150 sportsmen and women from the Northern Isles will set sail for Aberdeen this week en route to Guernsey and the 10th bi-annual NatWest Island Games.

NorthLink Ferries has granted free return travel to Aberdeen for all participating athletes representing the Shetland and Orkney teams in a deal worth more than £10,000.

This year’s games will be the biggest Island Games to date, with 23 islands competing in 15 different sports. A total of 2,500 sportsmen and women, coaches, managers, referees and officials will descend on Guernsey to renew old friendships and sporting rivalries.

Shetland’s 120-strong team includes 85 competitors travelling from Shetland who will depart Lerwick for Aberdeen on June 26 and fly on to Guernsey the following day, in time for the Games’s opening ceremony on June 28.

Bob Kerr, the Shetland assistant general team manager, said: “We have an excellent squad again this year and our aim is to improve upon the 18 medals we earned at the Isle of Man Games in 2001. I would like to think we can win medals again across a broad range of disciplines, as we did in 2001. We are very grateful to NorthLink Ferries for the kind sponsorship it has provided.”

The Orkney team sets off a day earlier than the Shetlanders, with 68 competitors leaving Kirkwall on Wednesday (June 25) before meeting up with the remaining members of the 76-stong team on the mainland.

Kieran Henderson, general team manager of the Orkney team, said: ”The Island Games are a fantastic occasion and a wonderful opportunity for Orkney’s young athletes to gain valuable competition experience. The Orkney team is going to the Island Games with a lot of enthusiasm and we’ll be delighted if we bring home some medals. Organising travel to Guernsey for such a large number of people is a huge undertaking and the support we have received from NorthLink has been invaluable.”

The Games’ closing ceremony takes place on Friday, July 4, with the teams sailing home from Aberdeen on July 5.

Elaine Tulloch, marketing projects manager at NorthLink, said: “On behalf of everyone at NorthLink, I’d like to wish both the Orkney and Shetland teams the very best of luck in this year’s Island Games. I am very hopeful that the athletes will be boarding their return sailings with a vast array of medals to show for their time in Guernsey.”