Only a month late

Its nearly a month since Keith Gerrard clinched his fine 9th place in the European Championships but I've only just watched the race tonight. I have been keeping on Sky+ to stream to my PC where I have tonight edited Eurosport's coverage into half.

I left the video uploading to YouTube about an hour ago only to return after a family natter to find that it had bombed out so I am going to leave the second uplift to run after I have gone to bed.

I also tried to edit it last night. I use something called a Slingbox to control Sky from my computer. But Ben was using a Playsatation on the TV in our living room and every I turned Sky on it was messing up his game and he would turn it off again. This happened several times until we realised that we were both interfering with each other's entertainment. We should try talking to each other a bit more!

The video is 11% uploaded. If anyone wants to check it out overnight (our time) it will be at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=murraylambden&view=videos

Triple dip

I saw a joke the other day about the economy where triple jumper Philips Idowu was being asked to advise about triple dip recessions. I can't believe that it is just over 10 years ago since he posed with Robbie for me at the AAA championships in Birmingham. There is an indication though as Aviva was still Norwich Union in those days.

Having a low night tonight. Went for a long slow walk on a glorious summer evening and after we'd eaten and I've caught up on the Olympics I'm struggling to find the motivation to do anything worthwhile.

I'm going to revert to an idea had for giving a plug to the Western 10 in October.

Missing the points

I was trying to find a photo of a train on the tracks on which we raced on the Heritage Trail the other night. If you reached  where this one was taken, at St Johns Station, you would not have gone off the track but you would have missed the points.

It does demonstrate that gimmicks are not new on the Steam Railway - this one was taken in 1974. I wonder how much extra champagne was sold after this venture?

I wonder how many extra people will travel on the railways next month after a 2 page (yes two whole pages) of adverts was taken by the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure in the Isle of Man Courier to advertise this: http://www.iombusandrail.info/events/island-at-war.html

The "classic period" that is so joyfully described in the advert was a period in which between 50 and 70 million people were killed.  Last week's Isle of Man Examiner recalled how three of the Steam Packets ships were destroyed in a 24 hour period. Maybe I am missing the points.

Pastie party

Conventional wisdom has it that you should eat plenty of pasta before endurance events. I misinterpreted this and ended up eating too much pastie at the end of the No Rest for the Wicked Series. Thanks to Western AC for the fine post race buffet.

Indeed thanks to everyone who helped last week. Although there were different clubs organising the events, there were a lot of similar faces at all the events as people from one club helped their friends at another.

After being out every night last week I had didn't have the time to indulge in the whole of the cycle road race yesterday but I did keep any eye on the screen throughout the day whilst working. I'm told that the "big screen" at the Southern Agricultural Show was somewhat smaller than expected.

Naturally I was shouting for Cav and the British team but I did fear that he wouldn't win. He was built up as such a firm favourite but there were so many possible results.

I have the same fear about Mo Farah. Whilst watching him race at the London Grand Prix recently, Brendan Foster spent most of the race telling us all how good he was and sympathising with his mate Haille for not being selected.

There was a good reason for the latter's non- selection - Ethiopia has amazing depths. I hope that Mo doesn't have to be picked up from the depths of despair. Instead, I hope that its a case of Mo going pastie them on the final lap!
 

TV commentator

There is two page spread about five times Olympic walker Chris Maddocks is this week's edition of Athletics Weekly.

He is going to be working for NBC (US television station) as their walks expect during the games.

You can buy his book "Money Walks" here.

24 hour clock

There was a comical moment on Manx Radio's outside broadcast this morning when, following a countdown to the switching on of the church bells the air fell silent.

Is it just me or is it a joke? Shouldn't the significance be of the bells ringing at 20:12? I  don't quite get 08:12. Has someone got their 24 hour clock wrong?

7 year itch

I haven't seen much of the build up on TV but you've only got to see a little to feel the atmosphere. If you have Sky TV, an extra 24 channels appeared on the programme guide this week. Yes, the Olympic opening ceremony is to be held today.

I was in London on 6 July 2005 for a business meeting on behalf of my former employers. It was a day I'll never forgot as everyone cheered the news that the Olympics were to be held about five miles from where I was in 7 years time. Of course, the Evening Standard had massive headlines to mark the event. I remember being in London too when the headlines announced that there were 1,000 days to go.

Wow! That day has arrived.

Who remembers when we hoped that Manchester or Birmingham would win the right to the games in 1992?

A lot has happened between the days when we dreamt of the Olympics coming to the Britain and their arrival. And I have certainly slowed down a lot. Last night was my slowest ever run in the Foxdale 6 - I've lost over two minutes since it was announced that the Olympics were to be held in London.

Good to see such a good turnout last night though. An entry of more than 60 marked a revival in the event - in 2009 it was down to 27. Great to see young Jason Moore snatch his first big win. Well actually, I didn't see it because I was half a mile behind.

Who needs the Olympics?

This post has got nothing to do with knocking the Olympics themselves but I read in yesterday's papers they had problems with the trains at Stratford.

Well, we've had problems in Ballasalla today. The first Douglas bound train sat in the station for more than half an hour waiting for the southbound train to arrive. That delay had a knock on effect with a busy day of extra trains and the 12.20 one didn't arrive until 13.15.

But there is no lateness with the reporting of the No Rest for the Wicked series in the Manx Independent. Every performance up to Tuesday night has been published. Well done to the race organisers and to John Watterson for such timely reporting. Nothing allowed him to get derailed.

By George

Couldn't remember where the saying By George came from so looked it up http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090816164208AA0CtM3

Then I remembered that it was Bar George that I had been to tonight on my "rest night" and was offline for a few hours.

Took a call from Barry Moore when I was out though. He needs extra marshals for Friday night in the Heritage Trail. Paul Jackson is also looking for marshals for the Foxdale 6 tomorrow evening. By George it doesn't get any easier to find them but I'm sure you will oblige.

Let me know

I have just expanded the "fixtures at a glance" through to the end of the year. I require feedback from clubs if I have linked to the wrong page, entries forms are released, sponsors are confirmed or if I have got anything wrong.

New competitors will not decide to do an event the day before. They need to be encouraged and provided with enough information to make it easy to enter an event.

Please let me know if I can provide this information in a better way by improving the links. Thank you.

Coaching advice

I had a chance to chat to a few people in the Mooragh Park in Ramsey tonight as we waited for the presentation at the Lakeside Cafe after the Northern 10km run.

And I received a complaint from Roy Crellin - "When are you going to publish some more photos of buses?". Well, here is the next best thing from my late father's connection. Its a coach parked in the old car park at Mooragh Park just yards from where Roy and I were chatting over a cup of tea. It was taken in 1969 and as Roy was celebrating his 40th birthday last night, it means he wasn't born when the photo of the Duple coach in Isle of Man Road Services livery was taken.

Exceeding the speed at which the coaches were allowed to drive through the park tonight was Andy Barron who took 34 minutes and a bit to run the 10km. Mike Garrett (35.03) was second and Charlie Pass close behind in third.

And there was a connection with buses for 4th place as Jason Moore, who set a Manx age group record of 35.16, is the son of Barry who keeps the current fleet on the road.

Did I mention coaching advice? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duple_Coachbuilders

No camera

I changed my mind several times yesterday. Should I do what I have done for the past couple of years and run the Peel Hill Race with the video camera as a way of ensuring that I allow my body some recovery time from the marathon. It acts as a handicap although I  managed 17th place last year as it also good for pace judgement. Most people start the Peel Hill Race far too fast.

I took the camera with me but my final change of mind was to leave it the car. Surely people would have had enough of my heavy breathing on the on board camera.  Surprisingly, one or two people expressed disappointment that I was not filming the race.

In the end the camera would not have recorded very much as Peel Hill was covered in mist. It was unwelcoming in every way as the strong wind in our faces on the ascent tried to stop us reaching the top.

I didn't think I ran too badly last night but its a bit disheartening to find that I only ran it about four seconds faster than last year when carrying the camera.

I believe some people are enjoying a heatwave. Well its not reached the Isle of Man yet. I have just been out around the prom and the scene is even less welcoming that Peel Hill last night. Wet and misty.

Its the 10km in Ramsey tonight as the third round of the No Rest for the Wicked Series. Ramsey people always claim to have the best weather in the Isle of Man. Let's hope so.

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.

Back to what we enjoy most

I've just published a couple of Stan Hall's photos from the runs at St John's on Friday evening. I didn't attend after a fairly eventful week.

It was a week at which we were able to make the best of our location in Douglas walking to two contrasting styles of concerts at The Gaiety Theatre and the Villa Marina. It was a week when we were rejoined by son Ben who is with us for about three weeks before heading to work in Denmark for about seven weeks before returning to Hull for the final year of his medical studies. Within 24 hours of his return he was assisting his old employers at the Manx Telecom shop.

Running wise it was the sort of week I don't enjoy. Despite running hard last weekend, I backed off from Monday to protect myself from blowing up too badly in the Manx Marathon which is just over two hours away as I write.

But it was not really a week when I could have focused on running. I've given a good deal of thought to a number of people who have been hit by tragedy.

Christine Crowe, who was married to my cousin Nigel, passed away the previous week. Just a year younger than me, we attended her funeral at Union Mills on Thursday, and it was so sad to see their two daughters left without their mother before they have even completed their education.

My cousin Linda, Nigel's sister, was not even able to attend the funeral because her husband Frank suffered a stroke whilst in Barcelona and she had flown out to his bedside. Thankfully Frank, who for many years was Boundary Harriers and then Manx Harriers medical advisor, was improving and was to be flown home.

Within a few hours of the funeral, I received a flurry of emails from people telling me the shocking news that Ian Astin had passed away. Several tributes to Ian have been written on the forum but they are a poor substitute for a father and husband in the Astin family.

So I'm looking forward to running a marathon this morning and I have to remember how lucky I am.

The start is the the Ballacloan Football Stadium in Ramsey. Its only two months ago that I raced from there last in the Northern 10 miles and the photo of me below, with my good friend Paul Curphey, was taken by Ian.

A couple of months earlier, I interviewed the 1964 Olympic silver medal winner Maurice Herriott. As well as  talking about his achievements as an athlete, the love for his family shone through. A week later, his wife of 50 years, Marina, had passed away. The events of the past week encouraged me to do something I should have done sooner, and I picked up the phone to Maurice. Apart from his family, it is his friends in the sport that are keeping him going at the moment and I know that he would love to hear from anyone who knows him.

Everything seems even funnier

When you've had a few pints this seems even funnier. If anyone missed this film of the Parish Walk its worth watching. I still can't believe that such hardy people were so scared of walking through what was little more than a puddle.

Mike, the athletes and the idiots

Photo Ben Lambden

Brilliant show by Mike & the Mechanics at the Villa Marina tonight. At 55 years of age I thought my days of watching great rock stars, such as Mike Rutherford of Genesis, a few feet from the stage were over.

A couple of years ago we paid over £100 each to watch Eric Clapton, in what we believed were the best seats, only to find ourselves needing binoculars at the O2. Tonight was as good as gets with brilliant company - half of the Manx athletics community seemed to be there, and we were as close to the musicians as the athletes.

But there could have been one more. We bought some tickets a few months ago and got one for son Ben just in case he was home at the time. Then a few days ago Ben told us he was coming home today so we bought a ticket forgetting that we already had one. When I realised that we had a spare ticket I tried to offload one among friends just an hour ago before the concert.

What an idiot. What a concert. What an encore stomp.Thankfully Ben enjoyed what he saw and heard with his two tickets!

Homework cribbing

An old school friend of mine, Greg Joughin, made a guest appearance on stage at the Gaiety and a few memories flashed into my mind, not least the above photo from a geography field trip around 1974.

That was the first year that Greg entered the Parish Walk, and as I was under age and the oldest in my class, he must have also been. He took part four times altogether, his best performance was to reach Lezayre as a 19 year old. He also ran the Manx Mountain Marathon several times.

Greg was always a talented artist and musician and myself and another friend, who now holds a senior position in the civil service, were going to act as roadies and support musicians for the band that Greg formed! He is in the centre of the photo above and the person who had as much chance of being a musician as John Terry has of not swearing for two minutes, is on the right.

Greg was not always the most diligent in the sixth form and as with several other far more intelligent people than me, resorted to copying my history homework. But as out lovely history teacher noted: "Joughin. You've even copied Lambden's spelling mistakes!".

Protecting against the elements

The last time I suffered a blip in my training was 7 weeks ago - it was too hot for me! It seems a long time ago and we've all been drenched many times since.

Nevertheless, it was a summer problem that I was unprepared for on Friday night when I popped out to St Johns yet again to take some photos of the Dave Phillips handicap races. The midgies were unbearable in places - I am sure I am starting to scratch again just writing about them! There was a disappointing entry of just over 30 in the two senior events.

By contrast, this morning's new Pier to Pier event attracted very nearly twice that many people. I might have paid a quick visit to that only that my website interests have taken up so much of my spare time that I couldn't justify any more right now. Having planned a visit to the Celton Manx Track & Field Championships this afternoon I finally made that for a short time but I felt very little motivation to take photos given that the majority of competitors were in the junior classes and children cannot be named in photo captions because of the overkill of the child protection rules.

We should stay dry tonight as we are inside at the Gaiety. Hang on though, I've just remembered the leaking roof that I read about in the paper.

I've cleared several of the recent features from the front page but have all the links to recent events together with an appeal for marshals for the Salclear Marathon next week. An elementary requirement for such a big road event.

Expanding list

I hadn't realised until this morning, when I was updating the site and checking lists, that the postponed round of the Sweeney Todd Dave Phillips Road Races is to be held next week. I have added it to the list.

Incidentally you can see the scheduled start times for tonight on the Western AC website. http://www.westernac.org/

It is always tempting when you see your name on the list but I think I shall stick with my inclination that I have done enough races before the marathon next week. I might pop out to St Johns with the camera for the second night in a row.

  

Photos from the St Johns 10km

http://isleofman.in/stjohnswalk2012

There was a disappointing entry of only 8 with just 6 finishers.

Clear view for a change

Its the nicest day we've had for a while and the Isle of Man looks great today.

I've had a few minutes to reflect whilst going for a short steady run a little while ago. Before I went out I highlighted the number of fixtures over the next couple of weeks..

It seems a long time ago that the athletics fraternity slagged off the politicians of the day for not providing an athletics track on the Isle of Man despite campaigning for one for thirty years or more. Yet, when one was built twenty one years ago there was no will to change the fixture list to accommodate a few purposeful events at the track.

Will we ever get back to the point where the senior track and field championships are the highlight of the year? Not when there are three other events promoted within three days of the event.

Get ready for reports of "there was a disappointing entry..." - its been coming during the past few weeks as entries have fallen in most events from the handicap races even to the fell races which until last weekend saw record entries in nearly every event.

There is one thing I never stopped saying in the time I have been involved in athletics - there have to be some gaps to make the challenges worthwhile. Imagine a mountain race that ran the whole way along a plateau? We have to go down to go up again.

For the record the Celton Manx Track & Field Championships will be held on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday morning there is a new Pier to Pier race in the South and on Friday night one of 11 handicap road races held over four months on the island. Tonight there is a 10km walk.

At last

How nice summer evenings on the Isle of Man should be spent. At last we had time for a walk together and we ventured out to Abbeylands.

Our route took us past Henry Harvey's farm where up to about 9 years ago we held cross country but ironically, instead of seeing Henry, we met my cousin Graham Crowe whose farm at Baldwin was also used for cross country but 30 years ago. Graham was helping Philip Caley who now farms the Harvey's land.

I've been working on the Parish Walk blog before and after our walk.

More photos from Abbeylands here.

And the next 48

I was able to juggle my day around yesterday so that I could cover the James Coulson Laxey Fell Race. I was due to clean at the cottage, which on a normal routine gets me finished at 4 pm, but the previous week's guests had left for the early ferry and, because I was able to do a long run the day before, I settled for a short one and an early shift at the cottage. I left the cottage at about 1.15 and it was about five hours later before I had completed the website coverage so I was glad that we had pulled out of a social engagement last night.

And weren't the fell runners lucky with the weather? Imagine if the race had been held the day before or the day after. I would certainly not had the backdrop of Laxey as I have in the photo above of Julie Cretney.

I was similarly lucky with my "Marine Drive" run this morning. Had I ignored the alarm clock, as I felt inclined,   I  would have been soaked instead of getting home before 8.30 and before the next instalment of rain. The next instalment of eating followed as we enjoyed some fine hospitality at the Glen Helen Hotel at lunchtime, and a good part of the afternoon, for the occasion of my sister-in-law Gill's 50th birthday on Tuesday.

There was still plenty of the Wimbledon final left to watch when we got home. I know little about tennis but that was about as good as sport gets with every emotion in evidence. But best of all there was sportsmanship from both winner and looser. Most of the motor sport on TV had to be played from the Sky+ box at ultra fast speeds to allow for the tennis indulgence.


My email challenge this evening has centred on some of the many that I received during the Parish Walk time. I think I need to make it clearer that I am not involved in the organisation of the event, only the website, as people contact me on so many different things. I don't mean to be unhelpful but if I stopped to answer every email on the PW there would be no time for the website itself. 


I was only able to put so much time into the Parish Walk website and blog because other things were put on hold. Now the blog is on hold whilst I deal with the other things but its not finished yet.

Last 48 hours

Colin Halsall (above), with wife Margaret and three of their five grandchildren the day after returning from watching the European Athletic Championships live in Helsinki, was one of many from the athletics fraternity attending Tynwald yesterday.

Because I have been involved in so many social events this week in support of Marie, which came "back to back" with so many other things that I have been involved with, I resigned myself to just one meaningful run this week and had to miss a couple of races. Tynwald involved driving a couple of people to the ceremony and joining the guests for coffee before being set free with the masses to take masses of photos around the fair field. I made a brief exit from the fair field to do what I always used to do with Robbie when Tynwald got a bit much f or him and walked to the top of the hill and took some photos looking down.

I then rejoined the official part of proceedings and took plenty of photos of the Tynwald members and guests. My full collection of photos is at http://isleofman.in/tynwald

We had a good scoff at the Methodist Church Hall before we left St Johns and after a brief trip into town it was an airport run, well drive really, before attending an official dinner last night.

Events of last night resulted in something I had not achieved before. My only proper run this week was a long one, the full marathon distance at 7 am this morning, which meant that I completed a marathon within 11 hours of completing more than a bottle of wine. That was followed by a "mother-in-law" drive less than an hour later when she was able to see the sights of the Isle of Man on what (for what non Manx residents might not realise) was our Queen's Jubilee Holiday - well apart from about half of the trip when we could barely see in front of ourselves due to rain and mist.

I promised myself that I would indulge in some TV sport this afternoon and not worry if the websites were not updated. I saw about five minutes of the TV before my body demanded abot three hours of sleep as compensation for the way that I have been treating it.

I saw the last part of Andy Murray's match though and kept an eye on the Diamond League match whilst trying to filter down an ever growing pile of newspapers and magazines gathered over the past few weeks.

I was trying to think of a story about interest being artificially high for the Diamond League but I thought that might produce cries of "what a load of bankers".

Not seen much of the house today

Out to two functions after work tonight and only just back in. Have updated the links for events held this week but that is about all. Might get a few minutes to do something in the morning before heading for Tynwald. Just thought of something I can put on the PW blog before I quit now.

Manx National Market Day

I had a Victor Meldrew moment under my breath as I reached Douglas Promenade on my morning run today. "I don't believe it" I thought as on the day before the Manx National Day, Douglas Promenade had been invaded by white vans and what looked like tacky market stalls. My enquiries since I got back reveal that it is to be a European food market.

Well I'm going to get my breakfast with Manx milk and butter. And Marie's home made bread using Manx flour will be consumed for breakfast and lunch along with Manx cheese. 

Something has gone horribly wrong when we are promoting foreign food instead of our own during Manx National week. 

I'd like to say

...but I would be lying if I said that I had spent all evening editing the video below. In fact it was only after a nice dinner and a few glasses of wine that I was able to sneak away from Marie and our guests when they started talking about Tynwald arrangements to do a very quick video of the Great South Run. My rush to and from the race to the airport (and the bad light) told on the quality of my photos and most of them are not worth publishing. I see from Graham's site that Mike Garrett won but the link to the results does not work for me. Gail Grifffiths (above) was flying in the 5km.

Triple figures

I thought that an hour or so on my own in the office this evening would allow me to catch up a bit on my emails. Alas, although I responded to a few (I hope that yours was one of them) I found some more in my junkmail so I am still have more than 100 pending.

Results and photos

The results for Laa Columb Killey have been updated to include two runners who had been missed off.

I'm staying in the south tonight as I am meeting someone at the airport at 7.30. So I can't take part but I have brought my cameras with the intention of slipping down to see the early stages.

Still blogging about the Parish Walk. If you hear stories of people being delayed by "at least 30 minutes" check the facts here http://manxtelecomparishwalk.blogspot.com/2012/07/some-facts-about-delays-at-braddan.html


Why were there delays at all? Well that is still quite a puzzle if you watch the video http://manxtelecomparishwalk.blogspot.com/2012/07/can-somebody-explain.html   

Walkers eat and greet

I undertook one of my favourite tasks this morning when I drove our Swiss work guests around the Island for a couple of hours before their flight. What was so different to anytime during the past six months was the absence of people training for the Parish Walk. So where had they all gone too?

Well judging by the difficulty we encountered booking a table at a restaurant last night, they were all celebrating their success. We met one such table in the Harbour Lights in Peel.

And there were a few at the Tynwald Garden Party this afternoon  although of the three Parish Walkers featured in the first two photos below 10 times finisher Roey Crellin has retired, and David Cain didn't enter this year. Caroline made it to Andreas (55 miles) despite a fall in the wet the day before which affected her performance. 

Middle distance star Kevin Loundes was also at St Johns and I was glad that it was me who was in control of the camera as I passed him with two plates of food. One was for Marie - honestly! My support for her Tynwald involvement means that I might not make it to the Great South Run and definitely won't be at the veterans mile. 

I don't think I have ever had 10 days with so many things on and running has moved ever earlier in the morning to fit it all in. At the very time when I needed energy I lost it at Port Soderick yesterday - we had a power cut. Not the way to impress the visitors especially when the power returns but not the heating.

Inconvenient but hardly life threatening we should remember. As with the poor soul who couldn't read the Parish Walk results on their mobile phone last week and had to get their laptop out. Neither does eating too much this week really fit into the hardship category. But more time with knife and fork in hand means less time with hands on keyboard.