Neil Shimmin, whose life was cut short last week at the age of just 53, was best known as one of the Isle of Man best ever footballers and record goal scorer.  He also took part in many other sports and could undoubtedly have been a successful athlete had he chosen our sport.  A cross country runner in inter school and Manx junior championships, he returned to the scene in the 90s to support his son Chris who was good enough to represent Lancashire at cross country.  Between 1982 and 2007 Neil competed in the Parish Walk thirteen times finishing on three occasions.  In 2004, when the photo above was taken at the Round Table, he recorded his best time of 18:35:53 finishing just 63 seconds ahead of his brother John who is a six times finisher and contributor to the parishwalk.com website as a statistical analyst.  Neil's other finishes were in 2002 and 2007

Neil's funeral service was held on Thursday  - details here.