Once a racer

Ed Gumbley - waited three hours before he could face food

It was another great day at the Salclear Marathon and Half Marathon. Great organisation by everyone at the Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club and thanks to everyone who gave up so much time to make the event enjoyable for us.

There were more athletes attracted from around the world than ever before although its a shame that it no longer attracts many good quality club runners.

We have our own of course and Ed Gumbley won the Manx Marathon at the first attempt. He passed 20 miles in 2.01 before tailing off a little and finishing in 2.45.

I worked out that I am half as old again as Ed is and it showed. He thought he was slow towards the end but I was much worse after ditching my steady 3 hour target when I started to see the gap between second placed Rob Sellors declining at the end of the first lap which I covered in just over 1.26. I passed Rob soon after Bride but it only took a couple of miles for Rob to reclaim second and me to perform my all too common walk/jog over the last few miles.

No regrets really as there is such a big difference between running in a big city marathon and a small event like today where you may as well race and take risks. I have done numerous training runs faster than I raced today and recovered much quicker too because I had not gone through the pain barrier.

Ed had certainly been through the barrier. He should have been first man at the buffet but he couldn't face food and he was just going to try some when I left - three hours after he finished the marathon.