Tony Forryan (30) leads an 18 year old long haired yob past my family home in Kirk Michael in 1975
He became the Leicester team manager and switched to running as his outlet. He has been a regular visitor to the Isle of Man ever since, usually during Manx Grand Prix and Southern 100 weeks as he follows motor cycling as well. For a while he even represented Boundary Harriers although he has always lived in Hinkley in Leicestershire.
We discussed the lack of depth in road running and the fact that veterans fill so many of the leading positions in road races. He is now team manager for Leicester Coritanians and they have a particular strong veterans team.
Then he told me the news of one of his team mates, Tommy Hughes, had won the Robin Hood Marathon that morning - and he was an over 50. Thinking that standards were falling I asked him what the winning time was and was told that it was sub 2.30. I must admit that I wondered if Tony had the wrong time but he clearly didn't.
Here is the result link:
http://www.experianfestivalofrunning.co.uk/RobinHoodResults10/FullMarathon10v1.pdf
And I wouldn't describe the Nottingham course as a fast one either.
As someone who has spent the last (almost) four years in this age group thinking I was doing reasonable well but failing (by 1 second) to get under 2.45 yet, I felt remarkably second division.
What a great performance.
Going back to his team manager, I have just found this link to Tony's employment which shows you what he looks like now - actually not much older than in 1975!
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/engineering/people/support-staff/tony-forryan
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