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Thursday 29 December 2011

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I've just updated the Parish Walk blog - entries have now past 150. I've also mentioned that I have been reading my half read Race Walking Record magazines. Great to see Norman Wisdom getting a mention for his Parish Walk exploits in the obituaries.

I updated the manxxathletics.com site first thing to do featuring the videos of past St Johns  fell races. I intend to continue plugging this but, although I am off work all week, I have been trying to avoid spending all day on athletics as I have so much other paperwork to attend to. Last year I was able to file my tax return online in record time but only because, like yesterday afternoon, I put time aside to work on the accounts for our holiday cottage.

One of the jobs I always like to get out of the way at this time of the year is to complete the membership renewals for my club for all our family. They would have been in the post to Jenny today only Robbie was not keen to sign yet.

As well as getting my subscriptions up to date I have also spent time unsubscribing to dozens of emails that choke up my mailbox.

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Moving the dial

I've just been doing a few updates to various sites while listening to some great music on local radio - but I don't think I can stay on the channel for much longer. The repetition of adverts puts more me off after more than an hour.

Here is the link for that great show on Radio 4:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018gpdn/Mark_Steels_in_Town_Series_3_Douglas_(Isle_of_Man)/

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Best laugh of the year

If you didn't hear Mark Steel on Radio 4 at 6.30 this evening then, provided you can put up the micky being taken our of ourselves, you should listen to his show on the iPlayer. Lines like "You must have the shortest tourist brochure in the world - page 2 says if you don't like it there is a boat in the morning" make it hugely entertaining.

Cut out the detail

Have just read that the results for the SCS relay were revised so I have removed my own analysis rather than reworking the stats for fastest leg times.

Walking into town to try my legs with a view to resuming running tomorrow.

Monday 26 December 2011

Christmas dinner coming up

That's would I would have been saying had I eaten it at the customary time yesterday. Ben set the scene with a few hours of vomiting in the early hours of Christmas Day and Marie and I started to feel rough as soon as we got up. My attempt to fight off the feeling by running yesterday morning was ill conceived and we all spent the day trying to take of Robbie's needs in between lots of moaning and groaning. Mother-in-law was kept safely at a distance.

I was sorry to miss the relay today because, as usual when these things strike you, I had just completed my best block of training for 16 months of so.

After lots of snoozing I feel just about ready to eat my Christmas Dinner now.

The sleep also put me in a great mood to compile the coverage of the SCS Relay. It was really easy to do today thanks to Ian Astin's photos and Manx Timing Solutions' easy to follow results. It always helps when I can easily match numbers to photos. It was easy to sort the times into fastest per leg etc too.

Nice mild weather today although I can imagine it was very windy.

 

Saturday 24 December 2011

The spirit of Christmas

Well, about six weeks after people started putting up their decorations, Christmas is almost here. I'd like to announce that I won't be going anywhere near my computer on Christmas Day. But that would not be in the spirit of Christmas. It would be a lie.

Some of us have had a good year in athletics and some of us a bad year. This only mirrors what goes on in society in general and there will, no doubt, be people deeply troubled at Christmas by illness, bereavement, financial or job concerns and relationship issues.

Notwithstanding our thoughts for those with problems, I hope that the majority of visitors to the site are able to have an extremely Happy Christmas.

Thursday 22 December 2011

FW: England Athletics eBulletin 21st December 2011

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SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM ENGLAND ATHLETICS

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England Athletics eBulletin - 21st December 2011

www.englandathletics.org

Let's get set for a great 2012!

As 2011 draws to a close England Athletics would like to thank all those who contributed to the sport over the past year; to our officials and coaches, athletes, volunteers, staff, council members and event supporters and spectators. We've got a really exciting year coming up for athletics, and sport as a whole. If you have a break over the festive season, enjoy yourselves and get recharged for 2012. We look forward to working together next year!

Features

Mo Farah

Farah looking to end 2011 with another title – and you can help him win!
Mo Farah is one of 10 people nominated for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. The event, and the voting, will be taking place on the evening of Thursday 22 December. He has come a long way since he first got involved in athletics! Tune in on Thursday night to find out the number you need to call.

Countdown to 2012

2012 - Are you ready?
It seemed so far way when London won the 2012 Olympics bid, and we all said we would be ready by the time it arrived. It is time for everyone to focus and seize the opportunity. This is not going to happen again in many of our lifetimes. Let’s be ready! Let’s take the sport and make it the biggest and best sport in the country.

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Keep in touch over the festive season
You can find us on twitter and facebook over the seasonal break. www.twitter.com/englandathletic www.facebook.com/EnglandAthletics

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England Athletics
growing the next generation of athletics champions


Athletics House, Alexander Stadium, Walsall Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham, B42 2BE
General Enquiries: Tel: 0121 347 6543   |   Email: info@englandathletics.org

To unsubscribe click here

 


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Santa the champion

I used to watch some of the Isle of Man Bank's Santa Dashes but I've missed most of them since I have been working in Ballasalla (5th Christmas down here already).

It was quite amazing to see (in Stan Hall's photos) and read about (David Griffiths on the forum) the number of top class athletes in one event. The quality was higher than many a Manx Championship.

Actually I recognised more than I expect because many of the beards seem to have been lost during the course of the event.  

Monday 19 December 2011

35% increase in entries for final hill race

It shows how far the winter hill league races have come that 70 entrants is slightly disappointing (compared to the two previous rounds).

But if ever there was a case of racing come rain, hail or shine this was it. The weather conditions were dreadful on Saturday and yet the field was 35% bigger than ever before on that course.

I was one of the people who raced the previous round but not this time as I was concentrating on my marathon training, I thought it was 10 or 11 years that I had previously raced but it turned out to be 12.

Here is the result of my race before last in the winter league.

Have just added Peter Bradley's Hill Race video

Sunday 18 December 2011

How long can one task take

Subject to them both making a mistake, I have published the names of the athletes who competed in the 1989 Manx AC v Boundary Harriers football match. Steve Taylor sent me most of the names a few days ago and Chris sent me an alternative list yesterday. Amazingly, they both completed the gaps the other had left.

Its taken me a bit longer to publish the photos that Steve Taylor sent to me of the two walkers who featured in the 1983 English Schools walks over here. Martin Rush hardly looks a day older but Tim......

The big news of the weekend (to me anyway) is that the Isle of Man will be sending a joint club team to the Northern Track and Field League next summer. I have embedded the IOMAA website at the top of the home page so that you can't help but see this story.

The new Manx team will make their track debut 25 years since we sent a very big and successful team to the 2nd Island Games in Guernsey. The athletes had a wonderful time and asked: "Why can't we compete as one team all the time?". I got heavily involved to try and bring about the change that the athletes asked for by campaigning for a single island club. After four years of opposition I gave up but I'm delighted that at least a part of what "one club" was about has been achieved albeit after a long time.

But its taken even longer for me to achieve something else. I recently found a certificate recording that I did a faster time for race walking 20 miles in 1981 than the one I had previously claimed. Steve Taylor has forwarded it to the IOMAA for ratification!

Catching up day

I knew that I would not have enough time to film all of the runners in the Winter Hill League race yesterday as I needed to be at the airport by 2.20 pm to collect Ben. Marie had been going to go but she was feeling rotten with a cold so it was lucky for me, but not for the passengers, that easyJet's flight from Liverpool was an hour late.

One thing that was apparent at Ronaldsway Airport is that, despite the massive investment in facilities, the airport cannot cope with the arrival of a single Airbus A319 (or whatever it is that easyJet operate to the Isle of Man). The pick up lane was blocked to the point where you could not get into the car park and when I did park up the arrival hall was full. Had a chance to update Andy Fox, who was also meeting the plane, on the results of the hill race.

So although I got the photos uploaded yesterday with family time (and a football match that I wished I had not watched) it was late in the evening before I finished off the video.

By the way, I have just noticed that the audio from my previous video (Winter League Walk) has new music. One of the audio tracks I used was not allowed (Warner Music Group) and so the audio was initially disabled. The strange thing was that when I elected to replace it with one of YouTube royalty free offers I was warned that it would take some time to replace but in the meantime the original audio is enabled again.

My computer is in a mess now and I need to do some tidying up.

But the main catch up of the day is our ages. Its Marie's birthday today.

Friday 16 December 2011

Kenyon Crowe

Soon after I wrote my first post of the day I received news of the passing of Kenyon Crowe aged 89. Widower of the late Ruby, and father of Linda, Graham and Nigel, in all but the last few months of his life he felt he had everything he ever needed.

He felt that Kirk Michael was the perfect place to be brought up; East Baldwin was the perfect place to spend his working life farming; Saddle Mews was the perfect place, alongside the National Sports Centre, to spend his final few years.

A member of Boundary Harriers, for whom he played table tennis for many years, his greatest contribution to sport was to be be there quietly in support. A quiet word from Kenyon was worth two louder shouts from some others. And he backed up his emotional support with financial support given quietly - sometimes to the extent that he would not continue it if it was mentioned publicly.

Richard Coates, Conor Cummins and David Knight were just three people to benefit and each one of them gave something back by visiting him and showing genuine gratitude. It wasn't just the motor cyclists who enjoyed the free use of his land.  Boundary Harriers held cross country on his family farmland in the later 70s and early 80s.

I had a special attachment with Kenyon. He was the first person I ever saw when I was brought to Manx soil. He was my mother's younger brother and he used to meet us off the boat from Liverpool when we visited every summer (until my parents brought our family back to the land of my mother's birth). He was generous with his time to us on the farm and he was generous to me after my father died making a significant contribution to my travel costs when I was competing regularly in the UK in the early 80s - and I had to make one of those promises not to tell anyone.


Kenyon is on the right of the back row in the 1958 photo above. My parents are in the middle row and Kenyon/my mother's elder brother John and his wife Kathryn are on the left. Today saw the last of that generation. I'm also on the back row and I was, at the time, the youngest.

Kenyon's own family has extended to great-grandchildren. They had a mighty great grand father.

Slippery character

I was caught out this morning. I had been up since 5.30 but not realised that the ground was covered in snow until I popped out for an easy run at 7. I wasn't going to take any risks as I have already had one fall this week - at the bottom of the Douglas Head Road last Sunday morning.

The snow may have slowed me to a crawl but it didn't stop the hardy - the woman who pushes her dog in a pram every morning was still there.

I was in the company of our elected ones last night. Going with Marie to the Speaker's Christmas Dinner is my only taste of turkey this year so it was good to  be out. Although the number of elected members who attended would hardly have constituted a quorum in the House, it did include a former Commonwealth Games hurdler and  a multi Parish Walk finisher. And a newly elected member who remembers his father's cows getting in our garden at Kirk Michael.

Thankfully I don't have to go to work today as I have a day off. The scanner is going to be busy again and I started the day by putting a cutting from the 2007 Island Games on the front page.

Now I'm going to flag the Island Cross Country Championships. Not literally but by putting a photo of the course on the front page.

I'm going to avoid sprouts today as the hotel where we ate last night seemed to only have one vegetable and I've had enough for a week.  

FW: England Athletics eBulletin: 12th December 2011

 

If you cannot view this email please click here to view online

 

 

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England Athletics eBulletin - 16th December 2011

www.englandathletics.org

Essential information from England Athletics

Are you winding down ready for the seasonal break? Or perhaps you're getting ready to spend more time training? We've published a number of new resources online for you to download and read, including the new edition of Setting the Pace, Asset management documents, and Athletics 365 videos.

Latest News

Setting The Pace: Winter 2011/2012 fan

Setting The Pace is now available for download

The Winter edition of Setting The Pace is now available for download here on the England Athletics website.  The perfect place for news and information on work being done across the sport by clubs, coaches, volunteers and England Athletics, plus discount vouchers for Sweatshop!

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Raising the standard of facilities

England Athletics is committed to raising the standard of facilities at sustainable community athletics clubs around England, increasing the opportunities to access quality facilities for both new and existing athletes.

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New Combined Events NCM appointed

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Kerry Eddie as National Coach Mentor for Combined Events. Kerry will be taking over from Darrell Bunn who has been in the role from the outset of the National Coach Development Programme.

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Run! Project hits new heights attracting 22,033 participants

Run! is going from strength to strength in London, 6 months into the project the 10 Run! Activators have recruited an impressive 130 new coaches and 201 new volunteers who have given 447 hours to the project and 426 participants have had access to informal coach athlete and volunteer workshops.

In the Activator Resource

Community Athletics Activator Resource

The "Run, Jump, Throw" Community Athletics Activator Resource was launched 2 years ago and has proved very popluar across the country.  You can still buy copies of the Resource pack which is ideal for those wishing to run an informal activity or short form competition event in their school, neighbourhood, or community youth project.

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Online Video Support for Athletics 365

England Athletics and UKA are pleased to announce that Athletics 365 online video support clips are available on their own section within uCoach. This will provide coaches with an extensive library of video clips covering each of the Athletics 365 challenges.

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Run! Activator Walking Beyond Boundaries

Tower Hamlets Run! Activator Nicole Evans is used to writing good news stories about her participants and borough partnerships developed, this time it's Nicole’s turn to be the good news story........

Features

England Athletics Store Winter Range

Warm up for Winter with England Athletics branded kit
Keep warm and show your support for athletics at the same time by wearing England Athletics branded kit - hoodies, sweatshirts, fleeces, hats and waterproof suits should do the trick.

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Keep up with the latest news
England Athletics use twitter and facebook to ensure that even when on the move, you can keep up to date with the latest news and events. www.twitter.com/englandathletic www.facebook.com/EnglandAthletics

You!

New Year. New Job?
Want to turn your passion into a career? We are looking for two new Club and Coach Support Officers (South West and North) and a Membership Services Administrator. A new resolution to do more voluntary work? Look in our jobs section (or contact your local club to see if they need help).

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Are You Ready?
The England Athletics Volunteer Initiative and ‘Are you ready?’ campaign are now in full swing and clubs are working hard to recruit, retain and reward volunteers ready for Athletics' big moment. Join the ‘Are you ready?’ campaign and host two great events.

eBulletin logo Oct2011

England Athletics
growing the next generation of athletics champions


Athletics House, Alexander Stadium, Walsall Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham, B42
General Enquiries: Tel: 0121 347 6543   |   Email: info@englandathletics.org

To unsubscribe click here

 


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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.1890 / Virus Database: 2108/4682 - Release Date: 12/15/11