MWR first leg stats

Having updated the database of times for the first leg, I thought that Kevin Loundes' fourth fastest time ever on the course was worthy of further analysis.

Chris Quine writes on his blog that, given the detoriation of the tracks over the years, Kevin's time is possibly on a par with Keith Callister's record. Having run most years since 1979 and posting the third best time on the course, Chris is well qualified to comment and I wouldn't necessary disagree.

But because the exercise is so subjective (what about the fastest times on the years runners had to content with snow and headwinds?), I thought I would throw together some more facts to fuel the debate.

The average times on the first leg each year since 1999 (the leg was not run in 2001 and 2004) were as follows:

1999 01:08:14
2000 01:11:28
2002 01:08:29
2003 01:15:47
2005 01:10:01
2006 01:16:07
2007 01:11:51
2008 01:10:21

With relatively small fields each year, the average times can easily be weighted by a few slower runners or even by someone getting lost.

So I looked at another consideration, the average of the fastest six each year. Again, this doesn't prove anything by itself as there were undoubtedly some years when the conditions were conducive to fast times (or perhaps the quality of the entrant was higher).

Anyway, here are the averages of the fastest six:

1999 00:57:57
2000 00:56:16
2002 01:02:26
2003 01:08:00
2005 00:58:36
2006 00:59:00
2007 01:00:26
2008 00:59:59

There are so many interpretations we can put on these stats but here are the most telling ones (as far as 1999 to 2008 are concerned).

I've compared the fastest time to the average of the top 6 and Kevin is just so far ahead of the average compared to the others despite a good time by Tom Cringle.

He is only 87% of the average for top 6:

1999 00:53:59 93.16%
2000 00:54:33 96.95%
2002 00:58:23 93.51%
2003 01:04:41 95.12%
2005 00:54:14 92.55%
2006 00:54:14 91.92%
2007 00:58:44 97.19%
2008 00:52:06 86.86%

But finally, if you look at the fastest time each year as a percentage of the average time, Kevin also has the best statistic (this is a correction from the original poost) . His time was only 74% of the average with the next best being Andy Fox with 75% in 2006.

1999 00:53:59 79.12%
2000 00:54:33 76.33%
2002 00:58:23 85.25%
2003 01:04:41 85.35%
2005 00:54:14 77.46%
2006 00:57:32 75.59%
2007 00:58:44 81.74%
2008 00:52:06 74.06%


There is enough to keep you warm in your anoraks over New Year - and that is without carrying out the same analysis over every single year.

Sports Personality Awards

I took some film of the Isle of Man Bank Sports Awards in March of this year. The video was only taken using my compact camera (as an afterthought). I usually like to get these things done straightaway when they are topical but there was something that my video editing software din't like about the file type generated from this camera. I've finally found a workaround using Windows MovieMaker to do the editing. The sound is very poor but the content, hopefully, is still of interest. I've just read that there is a special programme about Mark Cavendish on Eurosport at 8 pm tonight.

End to End Walk emails

I still have a number of email which I did not reply to in connection with the above. As virtually everyone reading this will recall, there was a controversy about the judging and I was bombarded with emails from people who did not think that the subject should be discussed in public to those that thought that only one side of the argument should be permitted.

I try very hard to resond to all the emails I receive but it is also difficult to give a one line response and I just don't have the time to enter into a dialogue on every topic.

I apologise, therefore, to the people who wrote to me on this subject that I have now decided that I am not going to try and reply.

Manx Wiki

One of the best new local sites is http://www.manxwiki.com/ although even here there are people who suggest that the information would be better integrated into Wikipedia.

Someone has already written a good piece on the Parish Walk at http://www.manxwiki.com/ There are a few small errors. I registered on the site with the intention of correcting them but have not done so yet.

I wonder if there are any manxathetics.com readers who would like to contribute to this site with some features on Manx events and Manx athletes.

The story about the launch of the site is contained here: http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/Manxwiki-to-offer-comprehensive-online.4716252.jp

Search Mann

Another Manx site I was asked to link to (some time ago but I've only just looked into it) was http://www.searchmann.com/

Its another good idea which seems to have died a death. The market is saturated.

Fixtures update

Bridget Kaneen circulated a revised 2009 fixture list on 16/12/08 which I have now updated on the site. The link is exactly the same as before:

http://www.manxathletics.com/Forms/09fixtures.pdf

The Manx Harriers club 5k walk has been adsed and there were corrections to the
dates for the March 10k walk champs and final winter league.

The only fixture that Bridget is aware of being missing now is the IOM track & field
champs. The track is likely to be closed from early July so the IOMAA are hoping to
find the most favourable date before that. Bridget says that any suggestions will be welcome!

50 mile walking

There was some discussion around the time of the Sara Killey memorial walk about various 50 mile events and Rob Elliott sent these old cuttings 0n 09/04/08 (double clip to see full size image). He had just received Australian Centurions Newsletter from Tim Erickson. He had enquired if an old GB time had been bettered for 50 miles walk. It had way back in 1974 by Ray Middleton, with Derek Harrison in it as well.