From Ken Watterson/Marie Latham/Paul Jackson

James has broken a bone in his back but fortunately no spinal cord damage.

Spare a thought for James this weekend.

Just a week ago he was enjoying competition in the Bettacrete Patrick Fell Race (picture by Stan Hall).

I've just heard Bernie Quayle announce that he will be taking video pictures from the TT access road on Saturday morning to post on the www.manxradio.com website later in the day.

I understand that James Coulson had an accident on his bike during the 10 mile time trial this week. He has been taken over to the Spinal Unit in the UK. Let's hope he will be OK. I believe that he may have gone into the back of a parked car.

Mitch was apparently races around Ward 6 and Nobles Hospital on his Zimmer Frame after having an operation yesterday for a vein bye-pass in his leg.

It will be the second year in a row that I've missed my annual chat with Mitch at Bride Church. Get well soon Mitch.

Have we reached the end of the road for the road races at the above event?

Its the first time that I can remember that the above, which is the annual parish festival for the parish of Arbory, has not been included in the fixture list. Presumably the run and walk, which used to start and finish at the fair field, would not meet current risk assessment criteria.

Does anyone know any different?

I was listening to the weather forecast on Manx Radio a little while ago (11 pm) and its not too great for Saturday. The walkers (and officials) are likely to get wet on Saturday morning and pretty sticky in the afternoon.

If you look at the number of finishers (and the number to reach the intermediate points) when the weather is unfavourable, there is a noticeable decline (unsurprisingly).

I hope to have the full results available this evening. I understand that Ian Gale won for the second year in a row and that Tony Okell failed to finish but this came from an unofficial source.

The official results failed to arrive due to a technical difficulty yesterday.

Stop press - results received from John Watterson 7.30 this morning. Many thanks John.

This might seem obvious but some people forget that the Parish Walk is being held this weekend and then get irritated when they get held up by traffic jams.

Please remind your friends, family and work colleagues to make allowances for delays especially on the road to the airport on Saturday morning.

For more information about the Clerical Medical Parish Walk click here to the updated website.

Things are starting to come together but I feel as if I need a couple more weeks. I’m not in the condition I was in 2001 but I am progressing well each week and might have ‘caught up’ by the time the Games begin. I was pleased with my 400m at Trafford and both runs at Jarrow. Trafford was quite windy and I was cautious coming out of the blocks because the hamstring went in the first 40m at Blackpool. My 800m at Trafford was only 40min after the 400m and it showed. I felt good at Jarrow and ran even paced over 800m which was a surprise – there’s plenty more to come over the first lap and a few more sessions should clip a second off the second lap. The 400m in lane 1 was strange because the over-used track was so slippery and. I think my flat speed is a bit lacking so I’ll be working on this aspect for the last few days.

Based on my struggle over 800m at Trafford, my main concern for the Games - qualification assumed - is the fact that the 800m final on Tuesday is only 1hr 40m after the 400m semi. I’ll certainly have to run quite hard for the 400m semi looking at the PB times. The big problem for me is that no-one else is likely to double up over 400m and 800m so they’ll have a bit of an edge, not having raced Mon am (800m heat), Tue  am (400m heat), Tue 6.20pm, Tue 8pm. Still I’m used to it with the Northern League meets and I’ll be doing it again this Saturday at the North of England Championships. I very much doubt I’ll make a final so it’s a run out over both events and getting more races under my belt.  

Best of luck to the rest of the team.  Hopefully given the run of injuries we’ve had, we’re all on the mend and  can and will stay fit.

On the same day as Keiron wished everyone well in the hope that all the injuries would be behind them, I received news from Graham Davies that Gianni has been forced to withdraw.

This is obviously a great shame. Gianni has been dogged by injuries and at one time retired from serious athletics to switch to cycling. He did so well on his return to earn two further Island Games selections and is well known as the Sports Development Officer.

I was slightly surprised to see fell runners Tony Okell and Ian Gale in the field tonight, although I appreciate that no one other than them has won the event since 2000!

I was only able to stay for the first half of the race and they were setting a fine pace with Peter Hughes a clear third.

It was just as well that Tony & Ian were in the field as the numbers were drastically reduced compared to last year. It was a shame but despite my own attempts to publicise the event, the writing had been on the wall.

The event was well marshaled by Western AC and, something I always like to see, it started in good time.

I understand that all runners were due to tuck in to some sandwiches after the race and, provided the event can generate enough entries in the future to justify its promotion, I think that's the way things should be done.

I'm sorry that I don't have the result at the time of writing (11.30 pm) but thanks to Rosie Morrison for offering to get the results to me as soon as she can.

Unless there were any surprises in the second half of the race, I think you have the gist of the result.

As I always say, don't be shy to add the results to the forum.

With the best will in the world, I think I'm going to be struggling to provide as much coverage of the Clerical Medical Parish Walk as last year.

I am unavailable in the morning of the walk and on marshalling duties in the afternoon.

I had so many grand ideas for the website that have not come off this year - I think that next year, unless someone finally sees sense and slashes the number of fixtures, I shall have to change my policy and stop trying to cover the smaller events.

The Parish Walk is an absolutely brilliant event and during the past three months the PW information has been most in demand on this site. It's big meaningful events like this that therefore deserve the coverage so I shall do my best to get as much online as possible.

Manx Harriers B team pulled off a very pleasing result at the Division 4 west match of the Northern Men’s Athletics League at Lancaster recently. Of the 7 teams competing they finished 5th. with 129pts. ahead of Western AC and Warrington. The match was won by by the newly amalgamated Chorley and Preston AC from Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton B team (another amalgamation!!!). The local lads enjoyed the day and produced some good performances also. The pick of each individual’s afternoon was :-

Dave Newton -   3rd. in the A 5000m in 18mins 33secs.

Nick Percival -         3rd. in the A 1500m in 4mins 42secs.

Glenn Butterworth -     3rd. in the B 1500m in 4mins 43.7secs.  

Sam Cannell -   4th. in the A High Jump in 1m 60cms.

Paul Skillan -  2nd. in A Shot 11.77m and 3rd. in A Discus 31.45m.

The lads were ably supported by Bernie Shimell (timekeeping) and Mike Callow (Field judge) who officiated during the afternoon. The next match takes place at Wavertree on Sat. 5/7/03. The team should be twice the size as many youngsters will have completed their exams and be available for selection. If interested in competing please contact Andy Fox on 626415.

It was with some pleasure that I learnt from Mike Gellion recently that the Veterans Mile is to return this year, next Wednesday at 6.30 pm at the National Sports Centre. Although its organised by the Isle of Man Veterans Athletic Club it is being staged within the Manx Harriers Track & Field League.

I'm sure there will be a big turnout of veterans runners as there are not many times when the veteran athletes solely race each other on the track but its hard to predict who will take part.

With Andy Fox heading to the Island Games just a few days later and Tony Okell concentrating on the fells, I really have no idea at this stage whether the top athletes will be there. I think that Dave Anderson, Robbie Lambie and perhaps Richard Radcliffe have won it in the past but if anyone has a full list of previous winners that would be helpful.

If you are a veteran athlete and you or your friends intend to take part (or otherwise) it would help to build up the atmosphere if you could let me know whether you intend to take part or not.

Although I wasn't able to watch the whole race on Saturday, I arrived at Glen Maye in time to see the final stages of the Bettacrete Patrick Fell Race and jogged a mile or so up the course to take some pictures. The scenery was superb and a handful of hikers who were enjoying the peace must have been surprised to see nearly 30 runners legging it through the countryside in the heat.

I stopped to talk to a couple of people out walking and the man said "I wonder if my daughter's boyfriend is running today". When I enquired who it was it turned out to be Charlie Pass who finished second in his Manx racing debut, the Isle of Man Bank Peel to Douglas Run.

It seems that Charlie is going to work in Lancashire and maybe we won't see as much of him as we had hoped but if we can persuade him to join a Manx club he really would be an asset to Manx athletics.

Fell runners training returns to Douglas on Tuesday night.Meet in the car park at the rear of the TT grandstand at 6.30pm. All welcome no matter what ability.

Considering the number of races already held this week we were reasonably happy with our entry of thirty who signed on at the Glen Maye village hall. It was going to be a really hot day in the hills for everyone as the sun was beating down and there was little wind.

Defending champion Tony Okell returned to his winning ways in the Bettacrete sponsored race after a good battle with recent Carraghan victor Richard Jamieson. It looked for a while as if Richard was going to win his seond consecutive Managrakem League counter as he started like a rocket. He had opened a lead of nearly three minutes at the second checkpoint on Cronk Ny Iree Laa after the mind blowing ascent from the shoreline. Tony held his nerve  and kept to the pace he knew he could handle. 

As the leaders arrived at the foot of South Barrule the gap had halved  and as they reappeared on the summit of South Barrule he had hit the front. The final section of the 9.5 miles course is perfect for Tony being on public footpaths most of the way as the route drops back down to the finish at Glen Maye and he was able to use his speed to open a three minute advantage . His time was over five minutes outside his own course record set in 2000, no doubt caused by the hot conditions that had all the competitors clambering for drinks at every opportunity. Richard had a bad patch in the South Barrule section but recovered to hold his runner- up spot comfortably clear of Brian Osbourne. Ozzie had a race long battle with Ian Gale, pulling away on the climb to South Barrule to clinch third place.

We were pleased to be  joined by Southport runner Niel Adshead, his second race on the Island having taken part in last years Laxey race and he had a good run in unfamiliar territory to place seventh.

Many thanks to sponsors Bettacrete, to all the officialls especially Ian Callister for marking the course and to Margaret and Stephanie for the excellent refreshments at the presentation.

There was an interesting entry on the forum yesterday afternoon concerning the lack of credit for the Western AC officials who give up their time so freely to organise the Dave Phillips Memorial Road Races.  Normally it would have been deleted as there was no name attached to it and it is my policy that every contributor must be named. But I'll let it pass on this occasion as it was so obviously genuine.

It is certainly true that the officials put in a good deal of hard work and our £2 per race entry fee is a trivial amount to contribute for their time and efforts.  Thank you.

Its always dangerous to single people out for praise because undoubtedly there are lots of other contributors as well. But the reason I praised Chris Quine so lavishly for his role in the Steve Jacobs Memorial Mile was that he made it so easy for others to promote the event with frequent updates for all the media and the results were provided electronically (even though he doesn't have a computer himself) within hours of the finish.

You really had to be at the mile event to appreciate the atmosphere. There was such a great cross section of our society taking part and the mile handicap with nearly 70 is unique in a positive way.

True the handicap was not as close as in the Dave Phillips Memorial Road Race but there was no one complaining as it was so obvious what the result was. As none of the runners had competed in a previous race of this nature then the handicapper could have changed the results afterwards to what he thought they should have run and taken the credit for having everyone finishing in the same time! Get real!

Whenever we plan an event we should surely be thinking not just of the people currently taking part in the sport but also those who could potentially share that enjoyment and enhance our own pleasure. Despite the enjoyment that I derive from competing in the Dave Phillips Memorial Road Races (and I am one of only eight runners who have competed in all four of the four miles this year - another is John Watterson of Isle of Man Newspapers, who is one of the other critics of the unique handicap system where new runners are penalised for trying hard and randomly moved down the results sheet after the event) I feel it is hopelessly missing the potential market.

Last year I wrote the following in March: "I particularly hope that I can carry results from the Peel Commissioners runs this year. Back in the 1990s, the results used to be available within a few minutes of the finish. Now, with the exception of a few times read out on Manx Radio, we have to wait at least a week to see the results in the Manx Independent.

Other events have moved on big time. Combined with the unfortunate change of course due to road works last year, I cannot help but think it is the poor marketing that has resulted in smaller fields."

So this year, also in March, I made my own attempt to promote the series to some of the potential entrants - have a look at THIS PAGE  

I also wrote the following on the news page:"I make no apology for targeting female runners to the above series, formerly known as the Peel Commissioners races, on the front page tonight.

With 2,000 runners expected to take part in the Race for Life on 11 May, just imagine if just 2% of them could be attracted to take part in other events. A quick bit of maths will tell you that is an extra 40 runners, quite a significant number on our scale of things.

And the Dave Phillips handicap series has got to be one of the most suitable events for such runners to either have a practice run in or progress to later in the year. Everyone stands an equal chance of winning, the distances are not too harsh and the venue is pretty easy to get to.

Its up to each of us involved in the sport to let everyone know how much we enjoy the sport and I think it is the people who are fairly new to it themselves who can be our best ambassadors.

Sometimes we need to tell people what a good sport we have and not to assume that everyone knows the rules, the venues, the dates and the joys of running until you drop!"

Only one person commented on the considerable lengths I had gone to prepare the publicity on this site. Guess who? Chris Quine.

There was a tremendous turnout in the first round with lots of new faces.  It was helped by Manx Harriers leading athletes turning out in force to prepare for the Easter Festival Road Races 10 days later but somehow one or two other people had heard about the event and this helps.

Success breeds success and the series should have grown from there. Instead, 44% of the runners have been lost in the next three races.

So what is the answer? Shoot the messenger it seems! Instead the organisers should be considering the following:

1. Providing results to Isle of Man Newspapers is absolutely essential. To not do so for three weeks after an event is inexcusable.
2. The provision of results electronically is an expectation these days. The world has moved on. 80 cyclists take part in the weekly time trials and the results are online by the time the riders have had their shower.
3. The fixture list is chronically congested and seven events in this series contributes to that problem.
4. New runners should be positively encouraged with special recognition for their efforts. If they win the handicap first time out, good on them!

This site is intended to be completely independent of any club. After all clubs are only a means to an end. I don't intend to favour one club above another but some of the contributors actually appeal for me to give their publicity greater coverage as I rotate stories on the front page.

I wish I was bombarded with publicity for Western AC events. I asked for publicity for the Castletown to Peel Race and the Western 10 in March. I've still not received any and the Castletown to Peel is just three days away. I have naturally continued to generate my own publicity but the difference in the way that Peter Cooper promotes the Marathon, Richie Stevenson promotes the fell races or Paul Jackson, Bridget Kaneen, Andy Fox and Chris Quine promote some of Manx Harriers events is quite noticeable.

Western AC developed a good reputation for organising events when they started in the 1980s because they did things better than had ever been done before. Is this still the case?

I hope to compete in the remaining Dave Phillips Memorial Road Races this year and, although I won't be competing because I've still not run further than 4 miles this year, I'm also hoping to provide coverage on the Castletown to Peel Road and Western 10 Road Races. I hope that all these events are a great success.

Whether you agree or disagree with my comments, please use the forum to let others know your views.

If you need any last minute information about the above, contact Richie Stevenson on 629267 [email protected]

What a difference a round makes. Three weeks ago the conditions were awful and the course dangerous. Tonight the conditions were near perfect and the view on the drive from Douglas stunning.

The only difficulty was the high pollen count that left everyone feeling a little dry and one or two hay fever sufferers performing below par.

As reported on the front page I believe that Moira Hall was the winner on the 4 mile handicap with Mike Garrett setting the fastest time of around 22.22.  Andy Bell and Peter Hughes were also thought to be under 23 minutes.

One thing that perhaps needs clarification before the next event is whether runners have to go around the outside of the tape at the bottom of the hill. Everyone I saw in the run took the inside line but to my embarrassment I discovered that both my companions in the car (son Robbie and Paul Curphey) both ran around the outside, adding several seconds per lap.

I don't have a lot of detail but I met Anthony Brand today and he mentioned that a party of Manx school children will be competing in the above this weekend, including his son Ben.

If anyone receives any results they would be welcomed but in the meantime lets hope they go well and remember the sun cream!

One statistic that jumped out at me when I compiled the stats on the Dave Phillips Memorial Road Races tonight (apart from the fact that the entries in round 4 were only 56% of round 1) was that Paul Jackson has only varied his times by 4 seconds in three races with 24.26, 24.26 and 24.22!

Manx Harriers came through their biggest test of the season so far in Division One to finish 6th. place in match two of the Northern League last Sunday. All of the squad gave their all and along the way the team experienced their first individual A win of this campaign.

In the sprints Chris Compston (100 and 200m A) and Stephen Halsall (200m B) ran well along with Darren Gray who competed in the B 400m which showed the local club were a little short of sprinters on the day. keiron Murray, however, produced a fine run to win the 400m A race. After his injury in the last match it was good to see Keiron competing again and this victory must fill him with confidence prior to the Island Games. In the Hurdles events Stephen Halsall ran well to come 3rd. in the A 110m event and 4th. in the A 400m race. Andy Fox supported in the B races with a 6th. and 3rd. respectively. Overall the Harriers held their own in this section of the match.

In the middle distances a number of fine performances were also achieved. Over 800m a season’s best and PB were recorded. The former was by Keiron in the A race with a time of 1min 57.1secs for 4th. place. This was an excellent performance with a very strong finish which suggests more is to come! Keith Gerrard, now fully recovered from the flu, came 7th. in the B event in 2mins 3.3secs which was a very promising run in a non specialist event. Over 1500m Keith ran a season’s best of 4mins 10.6 for 6th. in the A race. This was a fine performance when one considers he is only 17 and took on a difficult double against top senior competition. Darren Gray also made a come back from injury finishing in 8th. place in the B race. In the Steeplechase Andy Fox came third in the A race in 9mins 58.9secs with Tom Davies running well to fill in and come 5th. in the B race. The 5000m saw Chris Quine run a pleasing race in torrential rain to come home in 6th. place in the A competition in 15mins 57.7secs. (this was after 2 hours work in the field officiating!!) Andy Fox supported with 4th. in the B event.

It was the jumps where the club struggled most with all the regular jumpers missing. However, a number of athletes filled in and performed creditably to keep the club in touch with the teams in 6th. and 7th. places as the match progressed. Their performances were as follows :- Long Jump A Ste Halsall 7th, B Tom Davies 4th; Triple Jump A Ben Lloyd 5th, B Ste Halsall 4th; High Jump A Ben Lloyd 8th, B Tom Davies 5th; Pole Vault A Tom Davies 7th. in a new PB of 2.50m.

The throws was one of the club’s strong points again in this match. Glynn Hoosen-Owen was the A competitor in the Hammer, Shot and Discus finishing 8th, 3rd and 5th. respectively. His bests of 11.32 in the Shot and 35.54 in the Discus were excellent. He was ably supported in B events by Rob Keelan who did all four throws finishing as follows :- Shot 6th, Discus 4th, Hammer 6th and Javelin 3rd. This was a great effort by Rob and underlines his potential as a thrower. The icing on the thrower’s cake was added by Ben Lloyd who finished 2nd. in the A Javelin with 53.79m just 8cms behind the winner. A fine effort by all three lads had kept the club in with a chance of avoiding last place.

During the afternoon the Kenmac sponsored Harriers had fluctuated between 8th. and 5th. place. However, they had been mainly down in 7th. although the points were close. The final events, the relays, resulted in a 7th in the 4x100m and 8th. in the 4x400m as the athletes tired after a long day of multi event action!!! The final events to be added to the scores were the 5000m, Javelin, High Jump and relays. When the final scores were announced the position of 6th. place was very much unexpected but was no less than the lads deserved. Also it has to be said that this result shows that the Harriers squad is definitely capable of staying in division one. Special thanks must go out to Colin Halsall who officiated all afternoon yet again and also gained valuable points for the team.

The next match in the epic battle to ensure first division survival takes place in  Leeds on Sunday 6th. July, immediately after the Island Games. Rest assured the Manx Independent will carry the full story and results.

Overall League Positions after 2 matches

1. Derby                        15pts.

2. Liverpool Pembroke   13

3. Leeds City                   12

4. Blackpool                    9

5. Gateshead            8

6. Manx Harriers                7

7. Hull                         4

8. Rotherham            4

B Team at Lancaster.

The Kenmac Manx Harriers B squad competed on Saturday and were thought to have performed well in the match overall. Official results were not available at the time of going to press however valuable experience was gained by Sam Cannell and Nick Percival. Glenn Butterworth who has just returned from holiday had a useful run out while Dave Newton the team leader rolled back the years to compete in the 5000m. Paul Skillan used the match to prepare for the Island Games.  The squad were ably supported by Bernie Shimell and Mike Callow who acted as officials on the day.

28 women took part - it is certainly a while since we had that number other than the Parish Walk etc..

I think we tapped into some of the jogger market. Pity we did not have something else to promote as a follow up to keep them interested. Yes there are lots of events but these are probably perceived as being for "athletes".

The handicapping seems to favour the slower runners - probably because the fast runners have to unlap themselves and cannot run in lane one all the way.

I am so pleased for the Jacobs family - it clearly means a lot to them. They have been so keen to encourage the event through buying prizes and turning up, sometimes in cold weather, to watch and present the prizes.

£140 was raised through entry fees. With sponsorship for Arnie and money raised through the Monday night jogging group around £300 should be added to the fund in Steve's name. This money is used to help an up and coming athlete with equipment and travel costs so a worthy cause benefits too.

"Expect a bumper entry tomorrow and this is not hype!".  That was what I said to Chris Quine on Tuesday night. I was expecting about 50 runners but certainly not 67!

These comments are written after a few hours sleep - if you are starting here you will find I wrote quite a few things about the Steve Jacobs Mile last night as well.

I've got a further five comments to make:

1. The Jacobs family have been tremendous in supporting the event and for donating the prizes. I noted recently they also support a junior judo competition in Steve's memory.
2. I've never seen so many cars at the NSC as last night. Its fantastic that the event is held at the National Sports Centre which is sometimes underused by senior athletes. There are opportunities to train there regardless of where you intend to race.
3. Is the event unique? I've never heard of nearly 70 runners competing in a single mile race on the track let alone a handicap.
4. Didn't the officials do a great job to ensure that everyone was recorded and the results were available to everyone so soon after the race.
5. In my view, one of the reasons the event has been so successful is because it is an annual event. Nearly every type on event that is successful is damaged by repeating it too many times on the Isle of Man. The Island Cross Country League was replicated by all the clubs in the 1980s and every field declined; the format of the successful Douglas Fireman's runs was copied in the south, west and north and none of them have ever attracted even half the numbers compared to when there was just a single series; the fields for the long distance runs are depleted by having too many similar events close together. There is only one Clerical Medical Parish walk a year; there is only one Tesco Race for Life per year; there is only one Steve Jacobs Memorial mile race per year. Does that not tell you something?

Anthony was having problems uploading his photographs of the mile last night and they are not yet available therefore.  Don't forget to check out his picture site during the day in case he has had a chance to publish the pictures, or just to view some of the his earlier collections if you have still not discovered the facility.

THE ANTHONY BRAND PICTURE GALLERY

Peter Mathews, the co-editor of Athletics International (featured below) and main compiler of the www.britishathletics.info site (also featured recently), has welcomed the links from this site. I think its one of the great things about the internet that we can share our interests so well and Peter is so approachable. He is former editor of the Guiness Book of Records apart from so many other things including an IAAF TV commentator, former ITV commentator and Commonwealth Games stadium announcer.

Peter Cooper, of the Isle of Man Veterans Athletic Club, who were the first people on the Isle of Man to set up a website, has welcomed the inclusion of their site in the new Google Search facility on this site. We're all trying to provide information to the same group of enthusiasts and the more people become aware of the information that is available the better.

This wasn't the story I planned to bring about Chris today (I've held that one back for another day due to lack of time) but I think Chris deserves a further pat on the back for his efforts in promoting tonight's Steve Jacobs Memorial Mile.

With 67 finishers compared to 35 last year that represents a 91% increase.

Chris has used the media in every way to promote the event not least by continually giving me opportunities to refresh the publicity on this site.

No one has commented on why numbers were down in Peel last night.

Whilst the onus at the Steve Jacobs Memorial Mile is to allow everyone to enjoy the sport as much as Steve did, there is always a certain amount of interest in the fastest times so here are the top 10:

And just off the leader board, the Island's favourite comeback man, Dave Newton with 5.16.

And if you are a fast runner who didn't take part and not impressed with the times, bear in mind that we were running in the third lane for much of the way!

I could find something to say about each of the above but I'm afraid its too late!

If you were particularly impressed with anyone, sing their praises on the forum.

Before then we have at least six events including 3 track & field events and the following::

Fri -13th Ramsey Commissioners Park Run Road Race (Rd 3)                                

Sat -14th Bettacrete Patrick Fell Race

Tue- 17th Castletown to Peel Road Race

3 track league events

The Veterans Mile

Another round of the Ramsey Commissioners Park Run Road Races

And then the top athletes depart for the Island Games and the

top juniors compete in the Young Athletes League

What a few quiet weeks we have before the Manx & Northern AC Club Championships, the Western 10, the North Barrule Fell Race, the Isle of Man Marathon and the Road Running Grand Prix then!!

You'll have to forgive me if I can't cover every one of these in detail but its time for bed now!

ISLE OF MAN FIXTURES 

It turns out that the Guernsey organisers have refused my entry in the Half Marathon as a replacement for Tony Okell. No reason why was given. Could it be that this might be one way of ensuring the IOM men do not win a 5th. team Gold on the trot????? Graham Davies is going to try again. Meantime I am left wondering do I continue with slightly modified training to allow me to run well in a half marathon or do I go back to out and out Steeplechase training. I think it will be the latter. Personally I can see no reason to refuse the application as I am already an entry in an event at the games and so am purely a reshuffle of entry. If such reshuffling is not allowed then really we have as a sport to make the case for removing the early deadline for selection. It is not as though the IOM is trying to introduce a new name to the team after the selection deadline.

Although I didn't get a head count, a quick look around when race organiser Peter Kelly of the Western AC gave his pre-race briefing, suggested that numbers were well down at last night's Dave Phillips Memorial Road Races Round 4.

There are a number of possible reasons:

There are too many races this week certainly and people have to be selective. There is also a risk that the race was not very well publicised.  There was no coverage of the previous round in the papers because the press only received the results last night.  Of course, people who entered previous rounds may not have like the course or the way it was organised.

More likely it was a mixture of all the above.

Ever since the Island Games were first held I've heard arguments about the Island Games being the greatest thing since sliced bread to those who believe it detracts from other athletic focuses at national and international level or indeed that people don't support local championships and are only interested in the Island Games.

Throughout this period I've always been a big fan of the Island Games provided everyone recognises that there are other important events as well. For example, throughout the life of the Island Games Chris Quine has been one of the most consistent drivers of the attempts to improve Manx standards in National track & field competition. Together with virtually ever presents such as Andy Fox and Paul Clarke, he helped to drag Manx Harriers (and Manx AC before that) from the lowest to highest league in the North of England and the club is just one step away from National standard.

And yet every two years he has managed to achieve qualification for the Manx team at the Island Games, and some years the competition to earn a place in the team has been tough. Every two years he has noticeably peaked for the Island Games. Every two years he has won a medal for himself and the Isle of Man. It will be tough to repeat the latter feat this year at he age of 39 but his attitude towards overcoming illness and injury during the past year alone makes him a very worthy sportsman to carry the flag for the Isle of Man.

Details of his Island Games record are listed on the front page and will be moved elsewhere on the site when cleared front the front page. In his attempt to make the 1986 Commonwealth Games, Chris set a Manx record of 3.50.5 in the 1500 metres which still stands today. His 800 metre record set at the 1991 Island Games stood until the 2001 Games when Keiron Murray took the honour from him.

There will be further news of Chris tomorrow as his achievements have been honoured further.

Vol 12 No 12: June 11, 2003  Edited by Peter Matthews & Mel Watman has just been published.

Published 30 times a year by Athletics International Ltd, 13 Garden Court, Marsh Lane, Stanmore, Middx HA7 4TE, UK. Fax no: 020 8954 7497; abroad (44) 20 8954 7497.

e-mail: [email protected]

[email protected]

Annual subscription: UK £70, rest of Europe £80 or 140 euro, outside Europe £95 or $160

e-mail version £60 ($100, 100 euro) anywhere

(cash or cheques drawn on UK bank, payable to Athletics International Ltd).

Here is just a taste of what is in the latest edition received overnight by email.

Bekele beats Gebrselassie in great 10,000m

For some time Haile Gebrselassie (30) has been singing the praises of the double double world cross country champion Kenenisa Bekele, predicting that one day he would succeed him as a world record holder on the track, but the two-time Olympic 10,000m gold medallist had not bargained on his young countryman getting the better of him at that distance just yet. Nor had Bekele, who turns 21 on June 13. He had hoped for a very fast time in his 10,000m track debut (he had run 27:40 on the road two years ago), but did not feel he was ready yet to beat the master. However, in a classic race in the IAAF Grand Prix meeting before 18,000 spectators at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadium in Hengelo, Bekele outkicked Gebrselassie, 26:53.70 to 26:54.58, for no. 13 on the world all-time list. It was only the third defeat ever for Gebrselassie at this distance, having placed third both in the 1993 African Champs and the 2001 World Champs. He had won his other 12 races starting in 1992. In third place Sileshi Sihine (20) improved from 27:26.12 to 26:58.76.

Running on a hot (26.3ºC) and sticky evening, the pacemakers reached 3000m in 7:58.40 and by 4000m (10:39.72) it had become a three-man race. Talk of a world record (Gebrselassie’s 26:22.75 on this track in 1998) was forgotten as Sihine led through 5000m in 13:22.72. The 7k mark was reached in 18:49.55, 8k in 21:36.38, 9k in 24:23.21, and it remained a three-way battle until Sihine dropped back when Gebrselassie struck with 300m to go. However, Bekele stayed close and surged past in the finishing straight, covering the last kilometre in 2:30.5 with a final lap of inside 56 sec.

Quoted by the IAAF website, Bekele said: “Had conditions not been so warm I am sure we three could have run a lot faster. Before the race my aim had been 26:25, and I think in cooler temperatures we could all have gone that fast. The conditions were so hot that before the race we agreed to help each other after the pacemakers had dropped out, and that was the reason why I briefly [for one and half laps] took the lead shortly after the midway point was reached. It was the only time I took the pace because I am not that experienced, and after that short time period in front I became afraid because I did not know what might happen after 7 or 8k. That is the only reason why I did not take up Haile’s offer to come to the front again later on. I just simply made the decision that as I had never run this race [10,000m] before I would not risk anything. So I decided to just hold on and wait until the last possible moment before making my move. I did not know if my tactics were putting any extra pressure on Haile. All I knew was that Haile is quite a tough guy and that made me afraid of what he could do. I had assumed that Haile’s sprint speed might not be quite what it had once been but I was still afraid that even that pace might be too much for me.

“At the moment I do not know for sure where I will race next but my plan is to compete in Oslo and Rome, and then for the Paris World Championships I have yet to decide what distance I will run. I have the qualification time now for the 10,000m but the 5000m I have yet to get. Then there is also the schedule of races to look at to see what is possible; also they will be my first World Championships, so I have to be careful not to do too much.”

In addition to the 10,000m there were world-leading marks by Wilfred Bungei in the 800m (1:43.05), Paul Koech in the steeple (8:06.68) and Marina Kuptsova (2.02 high jump), while Troy Douglas (30.11.62) took his world masters 100m record from 10.47A to 10.42 and Kenya’s James Kwalia (12.6.84), who ran 7:37.18 for 3000 and 13:14.34 for 5000 last summer, trimmed the world junior mile record from 3:50.41 (Noah Ngeny in 1997) to 3:50.39.

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