Among the first in 100 years?

We set off to walk through Glen Maye this morning but it was so nice we decided to continue along the coast to Peel. Magnificent scenery. I had handicapped myself by going for a fairly tough run first thing and so I was as desperate to eat when we got to Peel as Marie and Robbie. We could see from Peel Hill that the Creek was crowded and when the footbridge closed as we reached it tension was getting high from Robbie. It looked nice and quiet at the Peveril and we ordered some good food and reasonable prices and the landlord was amazingly keen to meet Robbie's special dietary requirements.

We discovered that it was the first day that they had served food in the pub - ever. And we were there a little hour after they started serving. We'll be back within a 100 days never mind years. Highly recommended - as much as the scenery. There are still places I haven't been on our wonderful Island.

Wind and surprises

Cut up - Graham Young had to cut into a picture of himself when he cut his 65th birthday cake

With too little sleep on Saturday night the long session at the NSC was always going to be tough but with a sharp wind I curtailed my training at half marathon distance. But not before I had seen many of our top race walkers congregating by the Manx Harriers website at 8 am.

Surprise number 1 came during the Formula 1 race that saw plenty of action without any rain - that only happens about twice a year.

Surprise number 2 was when we arrived at Graham Young's surprise 65th birthday party at his daughter Hazel's house. I will come back to my Graham stories.

Surprise number 3 was to see former Manx resident Alex Lloyd take third place in the world's most famous motor sport event (sorry TT fans) - the Indy 500. Brits 1, 2 & 3. With what seemed like a world record for the number of commercial breaks (I nearly wrote brakes but they hardly use them at Indy) there was plenty of time to catch up with some newspapers but the website remained untouched until the following morning (today) when i added the photo of Graham with son Martin.

Skipping the training (and the long stories)

What foul weather on Saturday morning? I only managed to a token training session and decided to save myself for Sunday.

This gave me a little bit of unscheduled time to finally use the photos of the Millennium Baton that Alan Franklin had sent to me a few weeks earlier before rushing down town to do some shopping.

I needed to be at the cottage by 10 am but I had an extra hour this week before our guests arrived as they were practicing on the Billown Circuit for the classic racing. I planned to do some spring cleaning under he stairs and in the shed and then I visited the skips at the amenity sites on the way home.

I had been thinking about Graham Young all day! I had been invited to a small celebration for his 65th birthday the following day and planned to do a feature on the site. When I got back from the cottage I asked Marie if she thought the present I had bought him was appropriate and she told me that there were four messages on the answerphone from the previous day that I had not seen, all for me, including one from Graham.

I phoned him unsure whether he knew about the birthday party and after discussing the party for the Parish Walk's 50th anniversary I wished him a happy birthday and said that I hoped I would see him soon.

After spending the evening watching the Eurovision Song Contest (I was dozing by the second song!) I compiled the slightly shorter tribute to Graham's career skipping (for now) all the detailed stories I had planned to write earlier in the day - when the wine bottle was still full.

The start of a long weekend

Peter Bradley - started the weekend in top forms on the roads

I've enjoyed the Dave Philips road race series a lot more since they moved to St Johns in 2008.

Originally held around the streets of Peel on a 2 x 2 mile course in the early 80s, this course eventually became too dangerous and a 2 lap course from Peel campsite along the Poortown Road for a mile and back was introduced. I never liked the course as you were constantly going up and down off the pavement trying to avoid the runners coming in the opposite direction.

Almost half of the current course is traffic free and although its a bit longer it is easier to do 4 laps than to turn three times.

That said, I have trained in the morning each time I have run there this year with a hard session planned the day after, although this time I postponed my long run due to the weather forecast for Saturday. I'm running a lot slower than in 2008, the summer that I am trying to replicate for form.

In that year I was running 28 minutes or faster. On Friday I ran a few seconds faster than in round 1 but I was more than a minute slower than Peter Bradley.

Ben Scott, who with wife Isla, runs Scott Physiotherapy, the sponsors of the Western AC promotion, was the fastest but 46 seconds slower than him was Peter Bradley. His time of 27.30 was a massive improvement from last year and an even bigger improvement over 2008 when he was over 30 minutes in some races.

For me, that breakthrough was the best part of the start of the long weekend.

Off to the election announcement

Above the belt

Steve Taylor (right) found out recently that he had a common feature with the great 1976 Olympic race walking champion Daniel Bautista. See Paul Jackson's feature and lots of other photos of Steve with the stars here.

If you thought my comments were a bit below the belt they were meant to be - it was above the belt I was referring to!

I do get out sometimes

On a couple of days this week I managed to get out of the office in Ballasalla for ten minutes.

On Monday I went out to tease Bob Cowley when I saw him decorating his car with tangerine streamers to celebrate Blackpool's promotion to the Premier League. I suggested that he found a new allegiance only to be told that he first went to watch them more than 40 years ago when Alan Ball made his debut. What's more didn't I remember Bobba running in a tangerine top when he was running cross country? That was me put in my place!

Yesterday it was Ray Shooter who stopped running as he passed me to ask who is was featured in the papers for running in the Windermere Marathon. He had run it and he thought he was the only one from the Isle of Man. Ray took just over 4 hours for his 160+ marathon.

He is running another one, in Chester, on Monday.

Happy birthday Bernie

Bernie Shimell, timekeeper and former cyclist, is 60 today.

I met Paul Jackson last night and he told me and said that he was going to do a feature on the manxharriers.com website that I could link to.

But I knew a bit extra. I had a photo of Paul (at his wedding party in 2006) warning Bernie that if he didn't get up to dance he would publish an old photo of him on his 60th birthday.

Paul was taking his website duty a bit too far with a balloon above his head for the caption contest.

Parish Walk feature

Time to move this on too.

You can still access via the front page, from here http://www.manxathletics.com/PW2010.htm or, later tonight, direct from the PW site.

Northern 10 closure

With fewer events on at the moment it has given me more time to rotate the photos from the Northern 10 but I have now closed it off. Thanks again to Jackie Moore for the photos (she sent a few more that I did not get around to using.) and to finish here is one of Robbie Lambden, who was another to make his debut.

Can't help myself

I've been driving Marie mad - not because I returned to stats despite my earlier post, because I have been chilling out to John Kaneen's folk programme on Manx Radio.

I decided to get the Northern 10 database up to date and posted some fastest times.

The numbers taking part have been remarkably consistent during the past five years:

2002

20
2003
23
2004
39
2005
29
2006
43
2007
40
2008
41
2009
42
2010
41

That's definitely it for tonight.

The days before Sleazy Jet

I was hunting for a different photo earlier and I stumbled upon some more of my late father's transport photos.

I thought this one captured the spirit of the "old days" before the two words "airport and security" were used in the same sentence.

But let's not kid ourselves. Airports in those days were designed to help you with your journey (not to get you to spend as much money as possible) but how many people could actually afford to fly? My first flight (aged 18) was to the English Schools walking championships thanks to the Board of Education. So I have found an athletics connection for my photo.

Fed up with stats!

Yet another of my many sayings is that "nothing that is worth doing is easy". I often say this to people whether they are struggling with training, exams, work, personal relationships - it applies to anything really.

I've had to remind myself of this in the past few days as every time I think I am getting on top of the Parish Walk stats another challenge arises.

The reason it is worth persevering is that it is the only way I can produce the stats that people have come to expect from me - in fact they want more every year.

Someone asked me how long it had taken me to get the first draft of the Parish Walk feature ready and I joked "30 years". It was a lot harder when I was even result in from the newspaper results. In fact I am still finding errors from some of those earlier years. The great thing about the current version of the file is that it forces us to identify even slightly different versions of their names in different years.

A few people even spelt their names differently this year than last - hopefully it was their friends who entered them and made the mistakes.

Anyway, I started work on the file at 5.15 this morning when I received a file from Karen Kneale so its time to put it to bed for the day.

Here is the third version of the past data:

http://www.manxathletics.com/PW10NN.pdf

For more Parish Walk stats, go to my other blog at:

http://parishwalkwebsite2010.blogspot.com/

I missed Peter's 50th birthday party

I've had a frustrating evening working on the Parish Walk database whilst keeping an eye on the football.

But what a high to finish on. Not only did I find the results of the Mann Link Travel Northern 10 Miles on the the Northern AC website earlier than expected but I have just seen Peter Bradley listed as an over 50!

What a day

The fantastic weather continues.

It was a bit too hot for the Northern 10 this morning. As I was running I don't have any photos - yet.

I was out in the heat again this afternoon but with a bit more shelter in Ballaglass Glen.

The visitors who arrived to stay in our holiday cottage yesterday said it was like arriving in a foreign country such was the difference in heat to what they had at home last week.

Of course, its always like this.

PS Which cliff on the Isle of Man should we ask AA Gill to jump off?

No time to scout for girls

Its the best day of the year so far in the Isle of Man. Warm and beautiful.

I went for a slow run on the promenade this morning at about 7.30 and there were quiet a few people about.

Outside the Gaiety Theatre there were about 50 people queuing for tickets for the Scouting for Girls concert in August.

I don't have time to queue today but I will try the phone line before I head for Port Soderick. I'm going to be cleaning at our holiday cottage for the next five weeks in a row before we get a multiple week let which takes us nicely through the Parish Walk weekend.

Don't forget

Manx Harriers 5km race walk tonight

Flogging instead of blogging

I was about to spend the evening in front of the computer when I remembered that it was the East Douglas election meeting last night.

The Legion Hall was certainly a hostile place for existing politicians. Present and past politicians did not get any credit for the 26 years (or whatever it is) of unbroken economic growth that has taken us from having only a fraction of UK gross national product per head to well in excess of the UK level, but they certainly got the blame for anything that was wrong. I thought that public flogging would be advocated after the first half hour!

It was certainly an interesting meeting but if I was casting my vote in that constituency (I'm not, I'm just keen on politics) I would vote for the only candidate who made a clear statement about the risk of economic meltdown. Its ok talking about all the things we would like to do but our children and grandchildren won't have a future on the Isle of Man unless we tackle the massive shortfall in public sector pension provisions.

Lots of visitors

There were 346 visitors to the site yesterday which was about 50% higher than normal for a Tuesday. I can only assume that word got around about the Parish Walk feature and paid a visit.

If they did so after about 10 last night they would have had to ferret around a bit (or go back to the the parishwalk.com ) to find the article because I moved it off the front page.

Whenever I am aware of a high level of interest in one event I try to make some of the visitors aware of other branches of the sport through casual browsing and so anyone visiting for the Parish Walk would see the feature on the three fell races in July. I exchanged emails with Tom Cringle (who runners the Manx Fell Runners website) overnight and we now have a coordinated approach to these three events and I'm using all of his links to the very informative site. As an extra plug this morning, I swiped the map of the Narradale Race as I was checking it out myself.

I was a bit frustrated after spending a fair amount of time on the Parish Walk feature to find that another 12 names had been added after the extended deadline so please don't contact me if you are one of the 12 people who are not included in any of the three categories (previous finishers, previous competitors or first timers). I know but I haven't got the will to run all the reports and re-design the feature again. I will, however, continue to accept one off corrections - I have made three so far.

Almost blog free

I intended to make tonight a web free night but as usual I have failed.

I have moved the Parish Walk mega feature to a temporary landing page at www.parishwalk.com

The emphasis on the home page has returned to the fells.

Whilst looking for a feature photo from the 2006 North Barrule Fell Race I found this view which I rather liked.

I hope that nobody still has a dialup connection

I imagine it will take a while to download the special feature that I have just completed on the Scottish Widows Parish Walk.

Everything is archived

I rarely fail to archive features although I don't have enough time to index them as if I was running a professional website.

If ever you are looking for something then try the http://www.manxathletics.com/Features.htm page first.

I seem to have lost the google search box at the foot of each page but if you are using google you can search for:

Peel to Douglas (or whatever your search) followed by a space then site:www.manxathletics.com

I often use this search on third party websites in preference to the search facilities provided. For example, try something at random on the www.gov.im website and then compare it with google - I tried "deadline for tax returns site:gov.im"

Emancipation

I planned the daylight hours around the Creg-ny-Baa Fell Race today so that I could take photos and videos and feature the race on the manxathletics.com website.

It meant that if I was going to get my training run in around the Marine Drive I could not ignore the alarm clock at 6.20 am, even on a Sunday; it meant that before I could get a shower afterwards I had to prepare the food for Sunday lunch (part of a deal I made a few years ago when my obsessions were destroying our family life that at least I would cook every week on a Sunday).

I had also planned the first hour of darkness today with some precision. The entries for the Scottish Widows Parish Walk were due to close at midnight last night – exactly 165 days after they opened. The publicity from the sponsors and event organisers (a sub- committee of Manx Harriers) has been outstanding this year. I’ve also been writing a blog attached the parishwalk.com website with an increasing number of postings publishing lists of entrants, first timers, fastest times, number of finishers, missing names etc so that I would have certainty that when entries closed last night the integrity of the data had been well tested and I could publish and share my statistics and put an end to the exercise that had been increasingly dominating the non working part of each day.

I have campaigned about the futility of leaving entries to the “last minute”. “What happens if there is a technical problem or with your credit card on the last day?” I blogged on more than one occasion.

And there was a technical problem on the last day and it was decided to keep the entries open for another 24 hours. And everyone had to run around to accommodate the people who waited more than 164 days and 16 hours to enter.

If you describe running 20 miles around the NSC to any non-athlete then it is a long way whether it be 40 or 41 laps. When you are running it that extra one lap (if there is an error in the lap counting) can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

And that was the way I felt about day 166 of entries. I was just not prepared to reschedule my day around catering for the people who should have got their entry in so much sooner.

I decided to have a Parish Walk free day. I have not gone near the list of entries or my database today after weeks of several updates a day. In fact, I went a stage further and decided not to look at my emails – I can’t remember when I last did that.

And nobody will be any worse off for it. But I’m better off for it.

Parish Walk

I started work on the websites earlier than planned, particularly as I intend to be on at around midnight to get the final entry list for the 2010 Scottish Widows Parish Walk.

The total this morning is 1544.

As well as featuring the Parish Walk on the manxathetics.com site I have continued to keep tomorrow's Creg-ny-Baa Fell Race in the spotlight and the the Northern 10 the following week.

The Northern 9

There are only 9 days to go until the Northern 10 Miles and, other than what I have done on this site, I have not seen any publicity for the event.

I've been out this morning and there seemed to be runners and joggers everywhere. I think it is the peak time for an interest in running, just after the London Marathon, and we need to find more ways of converting some of these people into racers - starting with the Northern 10 in 9 days time.

Where was Bernie

I've put a photo of the 2000 Foxdale 6 on the front page and here is another of Keith Callister, Bernie Cannan, Tony Rowley and Phil Cain climbing out of Lower Foxdale. I worked out from this one that Bernie must have also been on the front page choice. Double click photo to see more.

Front Page tidy

At last, I've had a chance to tidy up a bit.

Northern 10 miles from 1989

Thanks again to Phil Cain for digging this one out. I have just typed it into my database and I will be publishing more before the race a week on Sunday. For now, here is that 1989 result:


1 Colin Halsall 00:55:54 2 Phil Cain 00:56:08 3 Steve Kelly 00:57:19 4 John Cringle 01:00:22 4 Paul Curphey 01:00:22 6 John Leece 01:00:37 7 Brian Goldsmith 01:01:45 8 Simon Davies 01:02:32 9 Dave Corrin 01:03:12 10 Donal Gilman 01:03:18 11 Bill Hooke 01:03:31 12 Roger Moughtin 01:03:37 13 Phil Crowe 01:04:24 14 Alan Kelly 01:05:27 15 Peter Corlett 01:05:46 16 Doug Fergusson 01:06:04 17 Kevin Albinson 01:06:12 18 Don Higgins 01:06:15 19 Len Carr 01:08:31 20 John Brewis 01:08:36 21 Irene Corlett 01:08:49 22 Martin Bell 01:09:15 23 John Grimson 01:09:40 24 Steve Partington 01:10:03 25 Alan Pilling 01:10:37 26 Anne Gomer 01:10:50 27 Paul Brew 01:11:34 28 Geoff Brew 01:11:58 29 Doreen Wilson 01:13:15 30 Alan Gault 01:13:21 31 David Mills 01:14:12 32 Alan Connor 01:14:21 33 Ian Turnbull 01:14:40 34 Colin Bowen 01:15:16 35 John Lelant 01:20:31 36 Gordon Vale 01:22:10 37 Steve Taylor 01:22:38 38 Lawrence Dyer 01:22:55 39 Carl Faragher 01:24:36

Counter to reach a million

Its just over six years ago that I added the current counter to the top right of the home page.

It was soon after that I took a break and said that I would not be updating the www.manxathletics.com website on a regular basis, making the site into a portal for the other local sites that were being developed by clubs and event organisers, although I would continue with one offs for the Parish Walk and the End to End Walk (which I did in those days).

I was never going to return to daily updates.

Rightly or wrongly I did and it looks like someone will logon to the site for the millionth time today.

PS I don't have a record of the number of hits before April 2004 but the website was set up in late 2000. The parishwalk.com domain followed in June 2001 so this will be the 10th year that the site has featured the Parish Walk.

Northern 10 database

Phil Cain has kindly written out the full result from the 1989 Northern 10 Miles so after years of non progression on my project to compile all the results (see the Northern AC website for the full history) a year has been plugged.

I'll type the results up this week but here are the top 3:

Colin Halsall 55.44

Phil Cain 56.08

Steve Kelly 57.19

Foxdale 6

I thought I would give an early plug to the Foxdale 6 this year hence the little feature on the front page using one of my photos from last year. Unfortunately I can't remember who gave me this picture of myself and Jim Anderson from the early 90s which again demonstrates the type of roads that the race covers.

Gloating at 8

Nice one Kevin

I was delighted to receive an email from Kevin Deakes today with the map of the Northern 10 which I have put on the front page.

I have said a lot over the years about the need to provide information for potential entrants and not just to have a "closed shop". This is a good example of opening the shop door to make the goods more appealing.

Room with a view

I didn't do much blogging at lunchtime today because I was sampling the delights of the Whitestone Inn followed by a tour of some fine apartments in Castletown that have just been completed. I won't share my photos from the interior as they don't do the properties justice but I am attaching a picture of the view from the living room and the advertising board outside.

Window of opportunity

This was scheduled to be our only empty week for our holiday cottage until the end of September and I already had some jobs scheduled during this week.

I've had the computer at home tidying it up and also I've been trying to write a new guest information book and trying to keep away from the athletics website.

But I also used the week to try and get the Water Authority off my back as they were complaining about a water leak on our property. So I got someone to dig up in front of the house only for the plumber to determine that the leak was on the road and not on our property.

The Water Authority have done the bit today; the plumber will reinstate tomorrow.

This week we finally got the repair work completed from when a car driver demolished the gate and garden fence in the ice on 20/2 and now this.

The curtain is about to come down over the window - or will it by the new blinds that Marie has been ordering.

Monty Python's Tiny Black Round Thing

Continuing the election fever I have found what I was looking for:

http://orangecow.org/pythonet/audio/zipped/Monty_Python's_Tiny_Black_Round_Thing_-_Side_One.zip

http://orangecow.org/pythonet/audio/zipped/Monty_Python's_Tiny_Black_Round_Thing_-_Side_Two.zip

Election night special

I used to have a brilliant plastic record (distributed free in New Musical Express, before it became just NME) by Monty Python. I haven't found the audio on line yet but here is something similar that still has me in stitches.

Good for age entries in the London Marathon

I'm starting this process in good time this year and I suggest that anyone else who wants to run London in 2011 and already qualifies does so. Here is how to do it:

If you've already run a full marathon in a particularly fast time, you might qualify for an automatic ‘good for age’ entry into the 2011 Virgin London Marathon.

Do I qualify?

You can apply for a good for age entry if you've run a full marathon in the same time, or faster than, the times listed below:

Men	Time (in hours)	Women	Time (in hours)
Age 18 - 40	2.45 - 3.10	Age 18 - 49	3.15 - 3.50
Age 41 - 59	sub 3.15	Age 50 - 54	sub 4.00
Age 60 - 64	sub 3.30	Age 55 - 59	sub 4.15
Age 65 - 69	sub 4.00	Age 60 - 64	sub 4.30
Age 70+	sub 5.00	Age 65 - 69	sub 5.30
		Age 70+	sub 6.30

How do I apply?

To apply for a good for age entry, you'll need to send us the following:

· Proof of performance
A photocopy of your running results, for example a certificate or newspaper clipping. The results will need to be from a marathon completed in 2009 or 2010.

· Proof of age
A photocopy of your photocard driving license, passport or birth certificate.

What's the closing date for applications?

Please send your good for age application to this address:

Good for age
Virgin London Marathon
PO Box 3460
London
SE1 0YA

Your application will need to reach us by 21 August 2010. Late entries aren't accepted under any circumstances and it’s your responsibility to make sure everything we need reaches us by the closing date, so we recommend you send everything to us by recorded delivery.

Your application will be reviewed by our panel and if it's accepted we'll send you a good for age entry form. The completed entry form will need to be returned to us by 4 September 2010.

Understand these three words

Don't forget the entries fort he Scottish Widows Parish Walk close a week on Saturday at 23.59.

NO LATE ENTRIES

I've just been blogging some more stats on the Parish Walk channel but I have also revived the link to the Nutrition Workshop at the top of the home page:

http://iomaa.info/Nutrition%20Workshop.htm

Sponsorship declined

I received a wonderful sponsorship opportunity for the site yesterday.

The sponsor would pay me a salary so that I could work full time on the website, they would put posters up on lamp posts and billboards around the Island to advertise the site and they would get an advertising agency to produce a glossy brochure about the site without actually making it any better or different to what anyone else had said about it.

I'm afraid that I had to decline this sponsorship because I knew where the money was coming from. Had the funds been from a blind trust and I had no knowledge of the trustees or the settlors, I would have been quite happy to say that I don't know and don't care where the money was coming from.

File under satire.

Peel to Douglas database

I've made a number of changes which I picked up myself on review of the published files:

Alan Pilling was listed as Allan one year (22 finishes not 21).

Sam Cowen listed as Sam and Samantha.

Ed Gumbley listed as Ed & Edward.

Alan Postlethwaite (incorrect spelling one year - I had already updated the total).

Lawrence Dyer - listed as Laurence in three recent years (I have made this mistake myself in the past)

Dave Isherwood listed as Dave and David

Dave Quine listed as Dave and David

Dave Salter listed as Dave and David

If anyone else spots any inconsistencies please let me know. Also there are a few names with just initials. I don't have the time to research these but I am happy to add the forename if someone can confirm them.

I would much rather make changes at this stage (even though it has taken me longer to change and republish than I would have liked) than to have to dig up the file patr way through the year.

All 1664 performances in the Peel to Douglas

On the home page I listed everyone with 10 or more finishes.

This list goes much deeper:

Ian Callister 30
Steve Kelly
28
Alan Pilling
21
Peter McElroy
20
Mitch Joughin


19
Alan Postlethwaite
18
Dave Newton
14
Dave Roberts
14
Mike Gellion
14
Bernie Cannan
13
Robbie Callister
13
Dougie Corkill 12
Paul Curphey
12
Dave Corrin
11
John Wright
11
Murray Lambden
11
Alan Corran
10
Anne Gomer
10
Colin Halsall
10
Irene Corlett
10
John Comaish
10
Les Brown
10
Martin Bell
10
Richard Radcliffe
10
Brian Goldsmith
9
John Grimson
9
John Leece
9
Lawrence Dyer
9
Peter Hughes
9
Phil Motley
9
Terry Bates
9
Tony Duke
9
Ian Crawford
8
John Crellin
8
Martin Caley
8
Mike Gray
8
Nigel Sinclair
8
Phil Cain
8
Rob Webb
8
Stan Hall
8
Alan Gault
7
Ben Scott
7
Bobby Kelly
7
Bryan Doughty
7
Dave Capelen
7
Donal Gilman
7
Jim Anderson
7
Lorraine Stigant
7
Mark Bridson
7
Paul Clarke
7
Paul Trees
7
Peter Cooper
7
Peter Simpson
7
Phil Kenny
7
Bill Hooke
6
Bob Baxter
6
Bob Cowley
6
Dave Ronan
6
Don Higgins
6
Doreen Wilson
6
Eddie Teare
6
Graham Clarke
6
Ian Ellis
6
Ian Turnbull
6
Jason Cochrane
6
John Brewis
6
John Cringle
6
Juan Callow
6
Malcolm Gibson
6
Mike Garrett
6
Peter Corlett
6
Ray Kelly
6
Stan Basnett
6
Tony Varley
6
Brian Hollinrake
5
Eddie Brew
5
Eric Ainscough
5
Geoff Brew
5
Gerry McKenna
5

Graham Davies
5
Kevin Martin
5
Kevin Tasker
5
Len Carr
5
Michael Crook
5
Neil Wilson
5
Paul Cubbon
5
Peter Harraghy
5
Phil Brooks
5
Ray Taubman
5
Steve Parkinson
5
Terry Crellin
5
Terry Evans
5
Wendy Ross
5
Aaron Quinn
4
Alan Bagley
4
Alan Connor
4
Allan Kelly
4
Charlie Quirk
4
Chris Richard
4
Christine Barwell
4
Dave Tasker
4
Diane Shimmin
4
Eddie Harvey
4
Errol Watson
4
Frank Oates
4
George Hull
4
Gerry Arnold
4
Graham Stigant
4
Henry Harvey
4
Ian Watson
4
Jane Mooney
4
Joe Cain
4
John Cannell

4
John Lelant
4
John Watterson
4
Keith Callister
4
Kevin Albinson
4
Kevin Deakes
4
Lewis Veale
4
Linda Kelly
4
Mike McGurgan
4
Paul Lewthwaite
4
Peter Costley
4
Peter Mylchreest
4
Phil Crowe
4
Richie Stevenson
4
Robbie (2) Callister
4
Steve Higgins
4
Steve Willmott
4
Tony Conway
4
Tony Okell
4
Trevor Williams
4
Al Hodgson
3 Alistair Sutherland 3 Allan Gage 3 Andy Page 3 Barbara McDermott 3 Barry Moore 3 Brenda Walker 3 Carl Faragher 3 Chris Quine 3 Claudia McCarty 3 Colin Watterson 3 Colm Andrew 3 Darren Richards 3 Darren Skillicorn 3 Dave Callister 3 Dave Collister 3 Dave Nixon 3 Dave Salter 3 David Isherwood 3 Derek Halsall 3 Eddie McArd 3 Frank Williams 3 Gail Griffiths 3 Gareth Evans 3 Geoff Ennett 3 Geoff Hall 3 Helen Simpson 3 Jack Murphy 3 James Coulson 3 Jeanette MacGregor 3 Jeff Looker 3 Joe O'Hanlon 3 John Grady 3 Kevin Groom 3 Kevin Wynne-Smythe 3 Laurence Dyer 3 Moira Hall 3 Neil MacGregor 3 Neil McGregor 3 Robbie Corkish 3 Robbie Lambie 3 Roger Moughtin 3 Samantha Cowen 3 Sarah Nelson 3 Simon Lowe 3 Simon Scott 3 Stephen Foulkes 3 Steve Moynihan 3 Steve Partington 3 Stewart Sayle 3 Stuart Gerrard 3 Tony Rowley 3 A Kneale 2 Albert Johnson 2 Andrew Corrie 2 Andy Fox 2 Ann Cain 2 Anthony Boyd 2 Anton Robertson 2 B Christian 2 Barry Cowin 2 Bill Galloway 2 Bill Kelly 2 Brandon Ellis 2 Chris Crellin 2 Chris Kneen 2 Christine O'Hanlon 2 Dave O'Sullivan 2 David Griffin 2 Debbie Moore 2 Derek Harrison 2 Diane Lawrence 2 Don Hardy 2 Duncan Jude 2 Eddie Convery 2 Edward Gumbley 2 Garry Ross 2 Geoff Kennaugh 2 Gerry Hughes 2 Gianni Epifani 2 Gill Stripp 2 Godfrey Clayton 2 Graham Titley 2 Guy Pickard 2 Helen Mackay 2 Helen Taylor 2 Ian Gardner 2 Ian Harrison 2 Ian Sanderson 2 Ingrid Sugden 2 Jackie Hurst 2 Jackie Moore 2 John Corrin 2 John Critchley 2 John Fargher 2 John Quayle 2 John Stringer 2 John Swindlehurst 2 John Tasker 2 Jon Quayle 2 Juan Gell 2 Lee Cain 2 Lesley Christian 2 Marie Noon 2 Mark Clague 2 Martin Malone 2 Mick Hannay 2 Micky Swindale 2 Mike Cowbourne 2 Mike Gardner 2 Mike Hickey 2 Mike Walmsley 2 Neil Craig 2 Neil O'Connor 2 Neils Skillicorn 2 Norman Taylor 2 Paul Brew 2 Paul Holland 2 Peter Bass 2 Peter Bradley 2 Peter Gage 2 Peter Kaneen 2 Peter Mumford 2 Phil Robinson 2 Ray Cox 2 Ray Faragher 2 Reg Hicklin 2 Richard George 2 Richard Jamieson 2 Rob Crennell 2 Rob Gilanders 2 Rob Sellors 2 Roger Hardman 2 Roy Corlett 2 Russell Collister 2 Sally Walker 2 Sean Pender 2 Shirley Moore 2 Simon Shaw 2 Stephanie Quirk 2 Stephen Brown 2 Steve Shimmin 2 Stuart Loaring 2 Stuart Temple 2 Sue Furner 2 Tony Barfoot 2 Tony Doyle 2 Tony Duncan 2 Trevor Coleman 2 William Faragher 2 ??? ??? 1 A Callow 1 A Rigby 1 Aarron Quinn 1 Adele Page 1 Alan Cowin 1 Alan Kneale 1 Alan Lund 1 Alan Sandford 1 Alan Thomson 1 Aldy Clucas 1 Alexandra Gellis 1 Alison Macowan 1 Alison Wilson 1 Allan Corran 1 Allan Pilling 1 Allen Moore 1 Andrew Bargery 1 Andrew Beirne 1 Andrew Berry 1 Andrew Dudgeon 1 Andrew Horne 1 Andrew Parker 1 Andrew Tinnion 1 Andrew Titley 1 Andrew Wilson 1 Andy Cannell 1 Andy Gosnell 1 Angus Robb 1 Anthony Rea 1 B Imber 1 B Porter 1 Bethany Clague 1 Bill Gilman 1 Bill Johnson 1 Bob Skillicorn 1 Bob Staszkiewkz 1 Bobby Clayton 1 Brian Kelly 1 Brian Osbourne 1 Catherine Bacon 1 Catriona Dryden 1 Charlie Pass 1 Chris Cale 1 Chris Donald 1 Chris Hancocks 1 Chris Pedley 1 Chris Townsin 1 Christian Varley 1 Christine Kissack 1 Clare Cashen 1 Clare Corran 1 Colin Hodgekinson 1 Colin Moore 1 Colin Tinnion 1 Colin Whiteway 1 D Berry 1 D Killip 1 D Skillicorn 1 Daniel Quinn 1 Danny Finn 1 Danny Shimmin 1 Darren Gray 1 Darren Latham 1 Daryl Quine 1 Dave Bawden 1 Dave Bourgaize 1 Dave Carram 1 Dave Cove 1 Dave Fisher 1 Dave Isherwood 1 Dave Lockley 1 Dave Maddrell 1 Dave Martin 1 Dave Quine 1 David Anderson 1 David Christian 1 David Collister 1 David Cretney 1 David Doyle 1 David Elliott 1 David Foss 1 David Griffiths 1 David Hodgson 1 David Page 1 David Quine 1 David Salter 1 David Tasker 1 David Walker 1 David Young 1 Dawn Watson 1 Dawn Yates 1 Debby Ashe 1 Delia Skillicorn 1 Denis Boyle 1 Denis Kneale 1 Derek Jewell 1 Diana Rohrer 1 Diana Shimmin 1 Donna Crellin 1 Doug Atkin 1 Doug Ferguson 1 Ed Gumbley 1 Eddie Watkins 1 Emma McGrath 1 Emma McGreevy 1 Eric Bregazzi 1 Eric Lee 1 Eric Moffatt 1 Eve O'Hare 1 Ewan Watterson 1 Ferran Munoz 1 Frank Willians 1 G Brown 1 G Whittaker 1 Garry Purvis 1 Garth Anderson 1 Gary Allen 1 Gary Callister 1 Gary Homer 1 Gary Poole 1 Gary Smith 1 Gary Wilson 1 Geoff Chatwood 1 George Gilman 1 George Lawson 1 Georgia Hoch 1 Gordie Brew 1 Gordon Wilson 1 Graham Saunders 1 Graham Thwaites 1 Hadyn Cubbon 1 Hadyn Parrick 1 Harry Kelly 1 Haydn Parrick 1 Helen Cullen 1 Herbie Cannell 1 Ian Chrystal 1 Ian Flynn 1 Ian Gale 1 Ian Kelly 1 J A Cottrell 1 J Everest 1 J Galliver 1 J Kelly 1 J Mitchell 1 Jackie Ashman 1 James Broughton 1 James Moffatt 1 James Moffett 1 James Simpson 1 Janet Oates 1 Janine Cringle 1 Jeanette McGregor 1 Jeff Black 1 Jeff Magee 1 Jim MacGregor 1 Jim McGregor 1 Joe Wood 1 John Bashforth 1 John Bellis 1 John Dougall 1 John Gray 1 John Halligan 1 John Kniveton 1 John Marchment 1 John Nicoll 1 John Robson 1 John Ronan 1 John Webster 1 John Wilkinson 1 Jon Cover 1 Jonathan Kelly 1 Jonathan Pugh 1 Jonathon Pugh 1 Josie Watterson 1 Julian Thomas 1 Julie Redman 1 K Carney 1 K Feldman 1 K Frisby 1 K Potter 1 Karen Rushton 1 Kathy Butler 1 Keith Green 1 Keith Lowe 1 Keith Lunt 1 Keith Townsend 1 Keith Watt 1 Keith Watts 1 Ken Watterson 1 Kevan Osborn 1 Kevin Cowan 1 Kevin Holder 1 Kevin Loundes 1 Kevin McCluskey 1 Kieron Murray 1 Laura Critchley 1 Lee Watson 1 Len Vermaak 1 Lenn Carr 1 Liam Boyle 1 Lisa Motley 1 Louisa Tweedale 1 Luke Bourgaize 1 Lynne McAvoy 1 Lynton Hoch 1 M Beckett 1 M Brackett 1 M Cain 1 M Collins 1 M Hewison 1 M Keen 1 M McGregor 1 Malcolm Cowin 1 Mark Armstrong 1 Mark Gage 1 Mark Preston 1 Mark Redmayne 1 Mark Spiers 1 Mark Watterson 1 Martin Feely 1 Martin Packard 1 Martin Phillips 1 Martin Strickett 1 Martin Wood 1 Maureen Kelly 1 Maureen Oddie 1 Melanie Brown 1 Michael Cox 1 Michelle Isherwood 1 Mick McCurgin 1 Micky Cain 1 Mike Boulton 1 Mike Crooke 1 Mike Nicholson 1 Mike Oates 1 Mike O'Connell 1 N Christian 1 N Kewley 1 Neil Corlett 1 Neil Duggan 1 Neil Eco 1 Neil Gale 1 Neil Lunt 1 Niall McGarrigle 1 Nick Percival 1 Nick Willingham 1 Nicola Timson 1 Nigel Heaton 1 Noel Cringle 1 Norman Kneen 1 Norman Neilson 1 P Atkinson 1 P C Darnill 1 P Richmond 1 Pam Matthews 1 Patrick McCormick 1 Paul (2) Curphey 1 Paul Crawley 1 Paul Dickinson 1 Paul Ferns 1 Paul Hart 1 Paul Jackson 1 Paul Lancaster 1 Paul Manson 1 Paul Renshaw 1 Paul Rodgers 1 Paul Shimmin 1 Paul White 1 Pauline Smith 1 Peter Brackett 1 Peter Dunworth 1 Peter Freestone 1 Peter Harraghy (Short course) 1 Peter Lewthwaite 1 Peter Mulligan 1 Peter Pierce 1 Peter Warriner 1 Phil Davies 1 Phil Jackson 1 Phil Mackie 1 R E Hoyle 1 Rachael Tewksbury 1 Rachel Carey 1 Ralph Jones 1 Ralph Sutcliffe 1 Raymond Whitfield 1 Richard Fletcher 1 Richard Jeffries 1 Richard MacNee 1 Richard Orton 1 Richard Pain 1 Richard Quayle 1 Richard Shipway 1 Richard Sille 1 Richard Stopps 1 Rickie Broadbent 1 Rob Holden 1 Rob Parslow 1 Robert Parker 1 Robert Parslow 1 Robert Skillan 1 Robert Webb 1 Robin Paul 1 Rod Hare 1 Roger Miles 1 Rose Hooton 1 Rose Rotherham 1 Rosemary Gorman 1 Roy Brook 1 Roy Crellin 1 Roy McNeil 1 S Davies 1 S Davis 1 S Quayle 1 S Taylor 1 Salma Shalla 1 Sam Cowen 1 Sam Hempsall 1 Sergio Magnaldi 1 Simon Capelen 1 Simon Cox 1 Simon Lacey 1 Simon Latham 1 Simon Sinclair 1 Sonja Terblanche 1 Stan Kewley 1 Stan Sille 1 Stanley Gammel 1 Steph Hardy 1 Stephanie Gault 1 Stephen Allen 1 Stephen Cain 1 Stephen Christian 1 Stephen Pownall 1 Steve Brennan 1 Steve Callaghan 1 Steve Porter 1 Steve Turner 1 Steve Watt 1 Steven Faulkes 1 Steven Quayle 1 Stuart Quayle 1 Sue Ackroyd 1 T Doyle 1 T Green 1 T McDonald 1 Tam McClaren 1 Tara Slinger 1 Tim Roberts 1 Tom Cringle 1 Tom Griffin 1 Tom Melvin 1 Tom Williams 1 Tony Cain 1 Tony Gutzold 1 Tony Kinnin 1 Tony Lever 1 Tony Wilds 1 Tony Williams 1 Valerie Hamill 1 Vernon Thomas 1 Vicci Laslett 1 Willie Kneale 1 Zoe Vermaak 1

Best place in the world part 9349

Marie and I had a walk around the course of the Heritage Trail run (which is held in August) this morning.

It was beautiful and I have plenty of photos to promote the merits of running around the course. In fact I saw quite a few things that I have not noticed when I ran around it. It was one of those days when I remain convinced that nowhere beats the Isle of Man.

If anyone was stuck in bank holiday traffic in the UK, I'm sorry to gloat.

Peel to Douglas Run Results 1965 - 2010 - updated

All results by year

All results by name

All results by fastest times

Womens results by fastest times

Peel to Douglas updates coming up

About an hour and half ago I was about to update my Peel to Douglas databases after Paul Jackson had kindly sent me this year's results through in the format I needed. I started to reorganise my filing and the housekeeping has kept me going until now. Here goes.

Belfast Marathon

I've been searching for the results of the Belfast Marathon but (one of my "favourite"" gripes) the website at is still telling you how to enter! http://www.belfastcitymarathon.com

Interesting story on the BBC site though about the winner getting lost at Heathrow:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8658303.stm

Bethany retired

I was reading the blog last night at:

http://9barjogleultra.blogspot.com/

and noted that Bethany was intending to withdraw but they seemed to be encouraging her to sleep on it. Sadly today's blog confirms her withdrawal.

The rank and file of road running

Last week I finished 452nd; this week I was 3rd.

Last week I put my foot down for a while and passed dozens of runners but the moment I was slackened there were others passing me; this week I passed one runner in the first half mile and ran the rest of the race alone finishing almost a mile behind the next runner and (had it been on the track) a lap and a half ahead of the one behind me.

Last week was brilliantly organised like a military event; this week was brilliantly organised like a military event.

Thanks to the officers and the foot soldiers.

No cameras

I'm heading off to Peel shortly with my running shoes rather than my cameras.

I've just cleared the recent features from the front page and added a link to the 2009 Peel to Douglas page in case anyone is looking for the statistics. I also have loads of photos and videos there.

I have been checking the stats myself. I only have two finishes since 1998, in 2001 and 2005 the two years I got my best marathon times. Its 34 years since I recorded the first of my 10 finishes although I also have a DNF. This is my first time on the current course and I suspect it will be my last.

Ultra names

I don't know if anyone else is following Bethany Clague's epic run.

If not, but you want to, go to http://9barjogleultra.blogspot.com/

I had to laugh that two of the twelve starters (they have already lost a third of the field) are called:

Bob Treadwell and Roger Miles.