How deep is the field?

I really enjoyed the day at Ballanette yesterday for the Medis Isle of Man Cross Country Championships.. It was the first time I had raced there. I have been away for the first cross country of the winter for the past two years and didn't race the final event there last year. I have entered the trail race on Boxing Day for each year of the past two years but for different reasons failed to start.

The field was pretty deep in places - full of mud. But my main comment is about the depth of the field as in quality.

One of my moans about our sport, and I was passing this opinion when warming up yesterday, is that the quality of so much of the sport has declined during my time of involvement.

I remember when hundreds took part in national race walking competitions but now you can count the starters on your hands. I remember when good athletes would fail to make their club team for the national cross country but now average ones have to persuaded to run to make up the numbers. I remember when hundreds of British runners used to break 2.30 in the London Marathon but now you are a star if you do.

But stop. Let's have a look at the local cross country championships over the past four years. How many people have finished within 20% of the men's winner? Excluding the winner himself it was 11 (2009), 6 (2010) and 14 (2011).  Yesterday there were 17.

Of course this measure of depth to the field is also a factor of the speed of the winner but I suspect that Kevin Loundes is every bit as fit as when he won in 2009 and 2010. When you consider that eight of those in the "window" last year didn't run yesterday (Andy Barron, Martin Malone, Simon Skillicorn, Mike Garrett, Paul Clarke, Stuart Christian, Richard Jamieson and Paul Cawley) then I think we have genuine reason to feel a warm glow from the improvement.

A warm glow would have been welcomed by the officials yesterday who starred every bit as much as the athletes in the cold wind. Thanks everyone.