Routemaster

 

As an amateur photographer you need a bit of luck for your shots sometimes. Although I am always looking for the best backgrounds, I was fighting a loosing battle at the Isle of Man Bank Hill Race on Saturday afternoon until Rosey Craine asked if I could take a photo of herself with her two team mates who had grabbed the first three positions. The photo turned out to be the best of the afternoon!

One of the things I like about the current group of athletes at the Northern AC club is that they have the ability to smile. I have to say that we should be allowed to pull silly faces when we are competing, but the more we smile, especially if we can take pleasure at other people's performances when we have a bad day ourselves, the better.

Rosey was smiling too on the first photo I took of her way back in 2002 at the London Marathon when she met Paul Curphey who she knew through Paul's hockey playing wife Paula.

London is known for its iconic routemaster buses and its always known that if you want to be a successful fell runner you have to be a route master.

The hill races are designed to be slightly different. Not only shorter but the routes are well marked. Saturday should have been no exception especially when members of the Manx Fell Runners club gave up time on Friday afternoon to flag the course. Imagine the disbelief on Saturday when it was discovered that some mindless idiots had pulled out the flags and thrown them into the trees.

A fair number of starters did not complete the course on Sunday.