Manx Harriers Summer Walk – N.S.C. Douglas, Isle of Man 16th July 2020

 5 kilometre walk
Pos Race No. Name Age Cat Club

Time

 

1, 134 Erika Kelly Sen W Northern A.C. 23.35
2, 137 Mia Dunwell U17W N.A.C 25.29
3, 139 Keira Heavey U20W N.A.C. 28.11
4, 143 Adam Cowin Sen M MH 28.15
5, 145 Adam Killip Sen M Unattached 28.52
6, 146 Tony Edwards V55M MH 29.15
7, 140 Paul Sayle V40M Unattached 29.47
8, 136 Jayne Farquhar V50W Manx Harriers 29.49
9, 135 Louise Hollings V40W MH 32.15
10, 149 Phillip Swales V55M N.A.C. 33.00
11, 144 Angie Robinson V50W MH 35.27
12, 138 Gordon Erskine V75M Unattached 36.39
1 kilometre walk
1, 147 Timothy Perry U11B N.A.C. 6.51
2, 141 Lilee Fletcher U9G Unattached 7.45
3, 148 Harri Swales U9B N.A.C. 8.13
4, 142 Jay Jay Fletcher U9B Unattached 8.14

 

The first walking fixture since everything came to a stop in late March took place around the perimeter roadway at the N.S.C. in Douglas on Thursday evening and it did not disappoint. In the 1km walk it was good to see 4 youngsters taking part in a development race.

Tim Perry from Northern was a clear winner in under 7 minutes, very impressive.  Lilee Fletcher is always a pleasure to watch with naturally good technique finishing second.  Harri Swales and Jay Jay Fletcher were nip and tuck all the way to the line, with Harri just getting the edge at the finish.

Leading the race from Pillar to post was Erika Kelly in her first outing since a recent operation to her knee.  Rehabilitation has clearly gone well as she opened her account with a road lifetime best, nearly 2 minutes clear of her nearest rival.

U17 Mia Dunwell hung on to her clubmate gamely for the first lap and maintained a good rhythm throughout, also showing that she has been training hard despite the lack of competition, knocking nearly ½ minute off her lifetime best.  Keira Heavey also looked in great shape and was even more impressive in terms of removing 49 seconds from her best, set as recently as February.  Adam Cowin has been less active in terms of training for the last 6 months and it was good to see him back competing again.  He spent much of the last few laps encouraging Keira along and I am sure that he will not be long knocking himself back into shape.

Adam Killip was the next to finish, traditionally favouring longer walks, it was good to see him having a go at a shorter, speedier event.  It was also a welcome return to racing for Tony Edwards as he has struggled with a foot injury for some time. Paul Sayle and Jayne Farquhar were the final two to break the 30 minutes mark.

Louise Hollings put in a solid performance as did Phil Swales to round off the top 10. I must give special mention to Angie Robinson who must still be feeling the effects of her epic fund-raising cycle around the 85 miles Parish Walk course, for the Hospice charity. She did this in the memory of fellow walker Teri Waddington, who was a great supporter of Manx walking and particularly to her husband Jock, a serial parish walk winner and son Stephen who was also a promising junior athlete. Teri was always on hand to help at our events, she also enjoyed getting out with her Parish WAGs group on many a long walk for many years before she took ill last summer. Her constant cheeriness and positivity will be very much missed by family, her friends and all of us in the walking fraternity.

Many thanks to all the race officials and helpers who gave up their time to help in what was a very worthwhile and positive restart to the 2020 racing calendar