MANX AIRLINES HALF MARATHON (MEN)

 

SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2001

 

 

Not many of the Island’s runners admit to liking racing long distances around the 800 metre oval road course at the Isle of Man’s National Sports Centre but you would never have guessed it from the skilful way they handled the course in perfect conditions on Saturday.

 

Tony Okell and Chris Quine ran excellent races and used the regular split times to their advantage as they ran lap after lap at virtually the same pace. Tony, the former Stockport Harrier who moved to the Isle of Man less than a year and half ago, is enjoying his running more than he has done for several years. He turned 40 in December and finds it advantageous to be able to run from his doorstep rather than travelling miles to start his training as he did when he lived in Manchester.

 

His 68.13 clocking on Saturday was his fastest for several years and, provided they both confirm their availability, looks to have booked his place in the strong line up for the Island Games Half Marathon in July together with the other new resident Colin Moore. Colin lines up for his club, Bingley Harriers, at the National Cross Country this Saturday.

 

The third place in the team is wide open. Chris Quine, who has won a medal on the track at every Island Games since 1985, would surely feel hard done to if he was excluded. His run on Saturday was faultless and he was within 5 seconds of his personal best time despite nursing a knee injury over recent weeks. He has been very single minded in his approach to Saturday’s race and his attempt to qualify, running two carefully selected 10km races and limiting himself to a single cross country race.

 

It would take a brave selector to exclude Paul Clarke however. He was 50th in a strong international field at the Great North Run in October when he ran 9 seconds quicker than Chris did on Saturday. Paul intended to race Chris in a head to head on Saturday but was unable to do so because of illness. He is the only Manx runner to beat Tony Okell during the winter season and has been more consistent than ever before this winter over all surfaces.

 

Chris beat Paul in their last race over the half marathon (Glasgow in August) but Paul has the experience of 5th place at the 1999 Island Games when he was only 38 seconds away from winning a medal.

 

Watch this space!

 

Back to Saturday’s race and Murray Lambden was pleased to run his best time since October 1998. Although the 44 year old believes he can still run faster he is only done so 3 times in the past 20 years. Bernard Cannan, who finished 4th in the last Island Game, is some way short of his peak fitness and it was surprising to see him and Richard Jamieson who almost missed the start of the race, ahead of Lambden in the first mile only to be lapped by the more consistent Lambden in the later stages. The first three runners were an example to others in pace judgement.

 

The same criticism could not be made of Ian Crawford and Andy Garrett, the latter improved by nine minutes on his previous half marathon last August and he continues to work towards the form he had (a further 8 and a half minutes faster) before the car crash in New Zealand that almost took his life a little over three years ago.

 

The event was well supported by veteran runners and triathletes but the organisers must take a long hard look at the format before next year. It was clearly over shadowed by the world class performances and much bigger crowd at the afternoon’s race walks. When a run was first included at the meeting in 1983 it was perceived a showcase for one or more top class guest runners. During the next few years there were world class performances during 40 Mile and 50km world record attempts. Even when it was first switched to a half marathon it attracted international guest runners of the calibre of Nick Lees, Dave Swanston and Brian Rushworth. There are so many races on the Island’s fixture lists for local runners to race each other – this event needs to be a little different. If this year’s event had not been used by Tony Okell and Chris Quine for their Island Games preparations, it would have been very ordinary.

 

Murray Lambden

18 February 2001

 

RESULTS

 

 

Position

Christian Name

Surname

Time

Club / Country

1

Tony

Okell

01:08:13

Manx Harriers

2

Chris

Quine

01:10:41

Manx Harriers

3

Murray

Lambden

01:16:00

Manx Harriers

4

Bernard

Cannan

01:19:10

Northern AC

5

Richard

Jamieson

01:20:23

Manx Harriers

6

Ian

Crawford

01:22:29

IOM Veterans AC

7

Andrew

Garrett

01:22:40

Manx Harriers

8

Nigel

Sinclair

01:24:53

Manx Harriers

9

Graham

Stigant

01:25:36

Unattached

10

Paul

Cubbon

01:26:09

Unattached

11

Alan

Bagley

01:29:28

Manx Harriers

12

Kevin

Vondy

01:29:40

Northern AC

13

Stan

Hall

01:29:40

Manx Harriers

14

Peter

Cooper

01:30:14

IOM Veterans AC

15

Lawrence

Dyer

01:30:21

Northern AC

16

Paul

Trees

01:36:28

IOM Veterans AC

17

Alan

Pilling

01:41:45

IOM Veterans AC

18

David

Tasker

01:43:27

IOM Veterans AC

 

 

MANX AIRLINES HALF MARATHON (WOMEN)

 

SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2001

 

Position

Christian Name

Surname

Time

Club / Country

1

Marie

Noone

01:24:04

IOM Veterans AC

2

Shirley

Moore

01:37:43

Manx Harriers

3

Kathi

Butler

01:54:29

Unattached

4

Julie

Dropinski

01:58:54

Unattached