Easter Festival of Running website

Matt Janes and Polly Keen – 2013 Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running Champions

Arctic conditions in the Isle of Man? You’ve got to be joking – look at the palm trees that runners passed on Douglas Promenade on Sunday morning!

Manxman Lloyd Taggart (222) leads on the second climb to the summit of Peel Hill from Friday night winner Matt Janes and winner Kyle Greig, Taggart was runner up and Fred Slemeck, who had been dropped at this point, was third, with Janes finishing fourth.

Approaching Corrin’s Folly it appeared as if Polly Keen (259) might repeat her success of the previous day but she had to settle for second behind Moira Davie (252). Also in the photo is Jenny Dybeck (265) who finished fourth behind Jackie Lee.

Murray’s photos: 10km  Peel Hill   Douglas

ManxPhotosOnline (Peel) Stan Hall’s Peel photos

Quick links to results – 10km men; 10km women;  Peel Hill men;    Peel Hill women

Ollie Lockley (151), a member of Manx Harriers but part of the St Mary’s University team during the Easter Festival, is in fifth place overall after two events.  Also in the photo is Gareth Turner

Men at work: Eventual winner Matt Janes (dark blue vest) is hidden in fourth place approaching 1.5km of the 10km road race on Friday evening. The leader here is Fave Downs who was beaten by just one second.  Andy Norman (95) was third and Joshua Entwistle (hidden in second here) was fourth.

Polly Keen (above) won the women’s race by more than a minute and a half from Ciara Dullagan. Third place involved an extremely close finish between two local runners, Gail Griffiths and Rebecca Wallace.

Like all of the big Manx athletics events, the Easter Festival of Running requires year round planning. Chris Quine (left) and Dave Ronan (right), along with Michelle Stevens, Dave Griffiths and Nicky Davison form the organising committee but the event would not be possible without the dozens of helpers from all five of the Manx clubs. It was one of the coldest of the 51 festivals to date and officials felt the cold even more than the athletes.

48 year old Gail Griffiths was the highest placed local athlete in the festival finishing third overall. The continual improvement of the former TT racer is remarkable but so has been the lack of depth to the local entry. Host club Manx Harriers failed to finish a team in either men’s or women’s events. Manx Fell Runners had two teams in the results but overall the running event with the most worthwhile levels of competition produced fewer Manx entries than low-key local events.

Mark Murphy (114) and Nigel Maddocks (113) were part of the Manx Fell Runners B team which finished ahead of the A team.

It was good to see former Manx resident Terry Bates visiting the Island and running an unofficial time of 20.57.

Also unofficial were the bike riders alongside one of the teams throughout the relay.

Easter Festival pre-event publicity

Get ready to slide – Peter Cooper’s photo of Peel Hill suggests unique conditions for Saturday’s Easter Festival Peel Hill run

46 athletes to wear Manx club colours at Easter

unofficial compilation by Murray Lambden