Among the 55 Manx born or resident runners among the record of 36,500 who completed the 30th Virgin London Marathon on Sunday were many who had rarely competed before and are not members of athletic clubs.
And they were distinguished before the hundreds of thousands of spectators whose noise made their ears nearly as sore as their feet. Tim Knott, who ran with a broken wrist on his debut last year took just 3 hours 2 minutes and 4 seconds in his second race since school, Adam Russell who has competed just a handful of times in local fell races covered the 26 miles and 385 yards in 3:14:23 and with a debut of 3:14:32 you wonder how fast Gary Ashe, the former Manx golf champion, would have been had he started running in his prime.
Could one of this year’s debutants finish in the top 100 in five years time? It was only in 2005 that Onchan man Ed Gumbley made his local debut in the Great South 10km in Port Erin and switched from martial arts. This year Ed finished in 99th position and became the fastest Manxman in London since Robbie Callister’s 2:28:59 in 1993.
Ed was persuaded to attend training at the National Sports Centre by race promoter Graham Davies where initially Chris Quine advised him. The benefits of coaching, compared to unstructured training, are clearly visible and for the past couple of years Andy Fox has been coaching him in a period that has taken the Manx Harrier to the Island Games Half Marathon, a 2:37:20 marathon in Berlin and now 2:35:14 in London in warm and humid conditions after a wet start.
Ed’s standards are so high that his opening 10km on Sunday (35:38) was faster than any of the other Manx marathoners had raced over that distance this year. He covered the next 10km in 36:00 and hit the halfway mark in 1:15:34. London is faster in the first half because of the elevated start at Blackheath but Ed began to wonder if he had overdone it when at 16 miles the heat and too much water consumed with his energy gels were making him feel weak. His next 10km splits were 37:00 and 38:22 and with an 8:34 final 2.195km he covered the second half in a respectable 1:19:40. Talking the following morning as he waited for a Eurostar train on his way for a well earned holiday he was self critical of his pace judgement but he moved up from 134th at half distance.
The revival in Manx standards had been predicted beforehand and nowhere was it more apparent than in the women’s class where for the first time three locals were faster than 3.30. But nobody had predicted that Debbie Loader would lead them home in a 2 minute personal best of 3:20:29 - it had not even been reported by anyone in the sport that the Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club member was taking part. More predictable was the sight of Northern AC’s Nikki Boyde reaching 10km in 44:45 compared to Debbie’s 47:22, and the Manx Harriers duo of Sam Cowen (48:04) and Rosy Craine (51.16) who was behind temporary Manx resident Rachel McGivern (49.01).
By halfway, Nikki (1:35:49) was almost 4 minutes clear of Debbie (1:39:38) with Rachel (1:44:13) now ahead of Sam (1:44:35) and Rosy (1:45:12). With fantastic splits of 47:22, 47:10, 47:09, 48:16 and 10:32 Debbie passed Nikki whose 55:23 4th 10km reflects a winter of illness but which nevertheless took her to a personal best by some 6 minutes (3:25:39). The deafening noise of the crowd caused another bout of vertigo and she described the final 10 miles as the longest of her life. Rosy (3:29:32) improved by a massive 38 minutes compared to her previous appearance in 2002 and her half way splits differed by just 12 seconds. Sam held on well for a 3:34:51 debut (25 minutes faster than in 2005) while Rachel endured a painful final 10 miles finishing in 3:49:01. Former Isle of Man Island Games representative Karen Rushton, who returned to Southampton, made a cracking debut of 3:01:28.
Paul Curphey (7), Murray Lambden (4) and Nigel Armstrong (2) had been the fastest locals in 13 of the past 16 events. Paul (all consecutive) like Richard Radcliffe notched up his 17th finish while 53 year old Murray (14th over 50 in 2:49:54) had to concede to a man 20 years younger for local honours. Nigel had been the most likely to compete with Ed Gumbley for this distinction until he a broke his toe on a Jetski early in the year. Scheduled to “jog” this year he became Paul’s pacemaker but eventually ran 3:03:42.
2007 Manx Champion Mark Clague was delighted with his 2:57:12 having not raced since last year’s local Salclear Marathon where he was distraught with an injury. Tom Melvin (3:02:56) was another who stood out for his ability to overcome a succession of injuries.
Yet another feature of the Manx contingent of 22 women and 33 men finishers were a remarkable six married couples. Dave and Lynne Quine recently bade Ellan Vannin a sad farewell but Geoff and Moira Hall still do so much for the Peel community. Janna and Ross Williamson were both raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis, while Louise and Adam Russell take turns to train and look after their four year old son and doubled up for Children with Leukaemia . Debby Ashe’s third finish was alongside husband Gary while physiotherapist Wendy Sandford, who was credited by several runners for getting to the line, was joined by husband Alan. If it were not for a harsh cold that struck Lynne Cain the week before and caused her retirement around half distance she would have crossed the line with husband Steve making it the magnificent seven. Nigel Armstrong may have his sights on entering the Guinness Book of records with Emma Rogan as the fastest married couple in a marathon but there is a slight detail missing yet!
There was so much action that spectators often miss the people they are looking for. Likewise it is impossible to record the achievements of all 55 in anything other than the impersonal computer times. Even these were missing for Andrea Reynolds, Jo Gelder and Philippa Sutterby, but they didn’t care- they finished and should be, and were, applauded as much as all the others.
Ed Gumbley: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 02:35:14Murray Lambden: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 02:49:54
Mark Clague: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 02:57:12
Tim Knott: Club - ; :Charity- :Time- 03:02:04
Tom Melvin: Club - Northern AC; Help for Heroes:Charity- Help for Heroes:Time- 03:02:56
Nigel Armstrong: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:03:42
Paul Cubbon: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:08:25
Adam Russell: Club - ; Children With Leukaemia:Charity- Children With Leukaemia:Time-
03:14:23
Gary Ashe: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:14:32
Richard Radcliffe: Club - Northern AC; :Charity- :Time- 03:16:17
Debbie Loader: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:20:29
Paul Curphey: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:21:39
Stephen Brown: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; Children With Leukaemia:Charity-
Children With Leukaemia:Time- 03:21:43
Nikki Boyde: Club - Northern AC; Rebecca House:Charity- Rebecca House:Time- 03:25:39
Rosy Craine: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:29:32
Alan Sandford: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:33:56
Sam Cowen: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:34:51
Tadhg O'Mahoney: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:38:18
Martin Bell: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:43:09
Rachel McGivern: Club - ; :Charity- :Time- 03:49:01
Emma Rogan: Club - Metros Running Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:51:19
John Wilson: Club - ; Whizz Kitz:Charity- Whizz Kitz:Time- 03:52:17
Emma Shilling: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 03:52:37
Mark Bridson: Club - Northern AC; :Charity- :Time- 03:54:07
Dawne Watson: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 03:56:41
Michael McHale: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 03:58:06
David McHale: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:03:46
Jan Cooil: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 04:03:57
Debby Ashe: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 04:04:10
Wendy Sandford: Club - Western AC; :Charity- :Time- 04:24:38
Brian O'Neill: Club - ; Marie Curie Cancer Care:Charity- Marie Curie Cancer Care:Time-
04:26:47
Malcolm Kirk: Club - ; Coaliac Org:Charity- Coaliac Org:Time- 04:29:50
Moira Hall: Club - Western AC; :Charity- :Time- 04:33:31
Louise Russell: Club - ; Children With Leukaemia:Charity- Children With Leukaemia:Time-
04:33:38
Leila Ashton: Club - ; Help the Aged:Charity- Help the Aged:Time- 04:33:52
Jon Quayle: Club - ; Leukaemia Research:Charity- Leukaemia Research:Time- 04:38:32
Sarah Quirk: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:48:21
Matt Dyson: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:51:00
Tommy Crowe: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:56:20
Kevan Osborn: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 05:15:00
Ross Williamson: Club - ; Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Charity- Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Time- 05:17:36
Janna Williamson: Club - ; Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Charity- Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Time- 05:17:36
Steve Cain: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 05:19:01
Rob Dickinson: Club - ; sense:Charity- sense:Time- 05:24:58
Darran Loader: Club - ; Leonard Cheshire Disability:Charity- Leonard Cheshire Disability:Time-
05:30:51
Geoff Hall: Club - Western AC; :Charity- :Time- 05:33:58
Damian Bird: Club - ; NSPCC:Charity- NSPCC:Time- 05:35:36
David Quine: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 05:46:17
Lynne Quine: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 05:46:17
Stuart Thornhill: Club - ; sense:Charity- sense:Time- 05:57:10
Hazel Webb: Club - ; Southern 100 Helicopter Fund:Charity- Southern 100 Helicopter
Fund:Time- 06:55:18
Lynda Brew: Club - ; Southern 100 Helicopter Fund:Charity- Southern 100 Helicopter
Fund:Time- 06:55:19
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