Kath Colquitt (42) was the overall FPI Winter Walking League winner over the 10Km distance. She is pictured above by Murray Lambden with the remarkable Dave Capelen who suffered a heart attack just before Christmas
Dave Mackey (83) was the 10K winner of round 6 on handicap. Enid Watson (left) won the 5K series.
Chris Cale (62) with Sinead Kaneen, winner of the 2K race and the series ahead of Alexandra Ross
Peter Corlett (28) finished 16th in the race and 12th overall in the series. Kirsty Taylor (59) finished 2nd in the 3K race and runner up in the series to Richard Bell. In the 1K race Juan Moore (76) took the honours and was joint runner up in the series over this distance with Alice Bell behind Catreena Moore (77) . Hannah Kelly (front left) enjoyed a good series finishing 7th.
Peter Kaneen (56) was the fastest on the day fnishing in 45.44 and ahead of Steve Partington (89) in 46.07. Sarah Goldsmith finished the series in 28th whilst Richard Bell (90) won the 3K race & series
Michael George was very close to breaking the 50 minute barrier for the first time finishing with a blistering pace followed by a 'technicolour yawn' on the grass after crossing the finish line.
The racing conditions were perfect for the final round
of the Friends Provident International winter walks league which was held at the
NSC perimeter roadway in Douglas. From the gun, Steve Partington
and Peter Kaneen matched strides at the head of affairs and were very soon
pulling clear of Michael George and Jock Waddington who had also both started in
positive fashion. Tucked in behind these two were junior walkers, Sinead Kaneen
and Alexandra Ross who were clearly relishing starting in with the main field
and getting towed along by the seniors. Sean Hands and Chris Cale had
started more steadily and they were being chased by newcomer Vinny Lynch, although the latter was attracting the
attention of the judges and clearly having technical difficulties at this
pace. As the laps continued there were some really close
battles, in particular between Michael Shipsides and
Dave Wilkinson who were unable to break free of each other during the entire
race. Indeed they could not be split at the finish line either. Allan Callow and
Simon Capelen were also locked in combat, while
Simon’s brother Dave was another to have a fight on his hands with leading
female Kath Colquitt.
The junior 1k walkers were first to finish having walked
a lap and a quarter distance. Katie Norris was first past the post, chased in by Adam
Cowin with Hannah Kelly finishing third ahead of the
fast finishing brother and sister combination of Juan and Catreena Moore. Alice Bell stuck to her task well and was so
absorbed in her walk that she carried on walking well beyond the finish
line. After the handicaps were added on it was Juan Moore who
finished top ahead of Catreena in second and Adam
third.
The three walkers in the 2k all had fast races, Sinead
Kaneen getting a 20 second gap on Alexandra Ross, while Alex Norris was a further 30 seconds
back. After the handicaps were added to
the finish times, the positions were unaltered with Sinead taking the
win.
In the 3k event, Kirsty Taylor
was quickest, recording another sub 18 minute time. Richard Bell walked a smooth
race, maintaining good form throughout, and it was he who
took the race win on handicap.
In the 5k, Andy Boardman was first to cross the finish
line ahead of Enid Watson, both well clear of their nearest rivals, however
after the handicaps were added in it was Henry Da Silva who came out top, ahead of the fast improving
Miriam Kelly. Andy was third on handicap.
At the head of the field in the 10k, Peter slowly edged
away from Steve, who put up a good fight in his first walk
since last years Parish and only recently back in training. Peter was clearly in good form as he recorded
an excellent 45.44 at the finish, which if ratified would break the 45.52
British veterans record which is currently held jointly, by his coach, Allan
Callow and Brian Adams of
Leicester. Steve was just over 20 seconds further back and a clear
second, while Michael George literally bust a gut to try and get across the
finish line in a sub 50 minute time, frustratingly failing to accomplish this by
a mere nine seconds. Sean Hands eventually overhauled Jock Waddington with
only seven seconds between them. Fastest lady on the day was the improving Kath Colquitt,
with Sharon Cheeseman just edging Sarah Goldsmith in
another close contest. Once the sealed handicaps were added to the race times
it was Dave Mackey who again improved enough to add another race win to his
tally, after winning the Andreas event last month. Dave removed nearly two
minutes from his best time. Vinny Lynch was second, but not
without picking up several cautions from the judges. In third Matthew Haddock also committed to
the race and took nearly two minutes from his time, also set at Andreas last
month. Kath Colquitt took 4th ahead of Elizabeth
Adams.