As Athletics Team Manager for the Delhi Commonwealth Games, I would like to provide some background to the non-selection of any athletes, wrote Steve Partington on 16 September.
The IOMAA, put forward three athletes who they felt were the most likely to achieve consideration times. Keith Gerrard, Tom Riley and Harriet Pryke became part the 'Delhi potential' squad. At a later stage, Glen Comish was added to
the list. Glen lives in York, but has a Manx-born father and is therefore eligible for the IOM team.
Tom was put forward on the strength of his 2008 100m form and the fact that he had been
beset by injury during much of 2009. Harriet was included for her potential, after some major breakthroughs in 2009. Keith has been at university in the USA for the past two years, and had been very close to the 10,000m time required during 2009. Like Tom, Glen was included on his form prior to a year of injury, where he had been ranked in the top 10 in the UK for steeplechase.
Unfortunately, Glen continued to have injury setbacks through April and May, and eventually withdrew his name from the 'squad'.
Keith Gerrard was the only Manx athlete to have achieved a consideration time (setting a massive new Manx record in the 10000m) by the cut-off date. However, Keith asked not to be nominated. After numerous meetings to discuss his situation and any possible solutions, it became clear that Keith was in a no-win situation. Basically, he has been put under pressure from his University coaches,
and has to compete in two National XC meetings in October, 14 days apart. To run in Delhi, Keith would have had to travel from USA to India, acclimatise, race 10000m on the track, and return to USA - fitting it all in between those two XC Nationals! This was a logistical nightmare, but more importantly, he would, at best, under-perform (possibly in all three events) and at worst, get ill or injured. To put the American side into perspective - next year Keith will be the senior athlete on the team at the University of New Mexico, and he is in the final year of his Doctorate. They pay for him to study at Alberquerque because they need him to run for them. If he managed to run in Delhi and returned ill or injured, then he is of no use to his team and he could potentially be off-loaded from the programme.
By the way, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone in Manx athletics for the level of understanding that
Keith's decision has been almost universally met with. I know how much stress Keith was under in the weeks leading up to his decision, and a large part of that was his fear that the Island would think he wasn't interested in representing them.
Tom Riley has had a frustrating season, beset with injury. At Christmas Tom was self-coached, training largely on his own here on the Island and he didn't have a track to train on. Through Martin Rush at England Athletics, we
contacted Tony Hadley, the national 400m coach who is based in Birmingham. He agreed to help Tom with his Commonwealth preparation, and this led to Tom making the big decision to move to Birmingham in March. Despite the setback of picking up an injury almost straight away, Tom was able to train with Tony's group until his return to the Island in early July, and has learned a great deal. Perhaps most importantly, that he was physiologically better suited to 400m running. Even without any setbacks, it was a tall order for Tom to get his 400m time down to the required 48 seconds. The adjustments to technique caused little niggles, and although he dipped his toe in a few races, Tom is the first to admit that he was short of speed and fitness and will have to wait for next season to start his 400m career properly. Tony Hadley has been very complimentary about
Tom's commitment, enthusiasm and his long-term potential over 400m.
Harriet has had another memorable season. She has carried on where she left off in 2009 and has improved her times throughout
the year. She has been focussed on her main goal throughout the season and has targeted the big domestic events to maximise her chances. Based at Brunel University, Harriet has been part of a quality sprint squad and has been helped by, among others, Tim Benjamin. She made four domestic Championship finals, and won the North of England Senior 400m
Championship - in her first season as a senior athlete. In a three week period in the summer, she set six pb's, but she was still not quite is fair to say that, Delhi has probably come 12 months too early for Harriet, but there will be some big performances to come
All three athletes have been a pleasure to work with, and have each shown a commitment that I'm confident will see them continue towards qualification for Glasgow 2014, and Island Games and National success on the way.
On a personal note, it has been a steep learning curve for me, but to be given the role of athletics team manager was a real honor. I'm grateful for the support and enthusiasm I have received from the athletes and their coaches and parents as well as the support of the IOM Athletics Association. Thanks very much.
Since 1958 29 men and 7 women have represented the Isle of Man in athletics at the Commonwealth Games (63 performances in total) - no athletes have been selected in 2010
1. Result as per thecgf.com except that Alf Oddie was listed as 6058 hours instead of points, Steve Partington was omitted from 2002 and Brenda
Walker was listed in 1990 as a non-starter in the 10,000 metres (excluded from the list as I am certain that other athletes have also been entered for events that they have not started).
2. No attempt (at this stage) to research better performances attained in earlier rounds - the thecgf.com site only seems
to show the result from last round of competition.
3. Position column is the position in a final. Walkers, 3,000, 10,000 metres and marathon runners competed in straight finals as did Alf Oddie in the decathlon. Martin Aram is the only athlete to qualify for a final.
4. Ian
Hodgkinson also represented Australia and David McCutcheon represented Scotland.
5. 100 yards and 220 yards were officially listed as 100 yard dash and 220 yard dash.
6. Brenda Walker was selected for the 1994 Commonwealth Games but withdrew due to injury and did not travel. Stephanie Quirk was selected and travelled to the 1986 Commonwealth Games but withdrew due an injury sustained in Edinburgh. Were there any other athletes selected who did not compete?
7. 26 of the 63 performances have been in race walking events including five dnf's and two dq's. 6 athletes have competed in the 100 metres (plus 2 in the 100 yards). 5 athletes have started the marathon (all finishing).
8 The 7 women who have represented the Isle of Man are 2 sprinters, 2 middle distance runners, 2 walkers and a marathon runner. No female field event athlete has ever competed.
9. Danaa Myhill competed in 1986 and also in 1994 under her married name of Callow.
10. Alf and Maureen Oddie are brother and sister. Steve and Cal Partington are husband and wife.
Background to research: Its always surprised me that there is no definite list of Manx performances in the Commonwealth Games, or if there is one I have wasted my time! cga.im/games_history.aspstates that 70 competitors have represented the Isle of Man which only leaves 34 for all the other sports who have competed up to 2006 - this is surely too low. There is, however, a useful reference of all Isle of Man medal winners on that page.
