Manx MM

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Manx MM on Sat 14th Apr 1990

This was to be a nostalgic and long awaited return to that lovely land of Elian Vannin; part of the British Isles but still proudly holding to its ancient independence. I first went over to the Isle of Man in the 1970s and made several return trips at Easter for the Mountain Marathon, the longest of all (1 day) fell races.

When I discovered that my old friends from Keswick, Simon and Mo Cox, were living permanently on the island I was easily persuaded to enter this year's event and combined it with a special trip for Cheltenham Harriers. They all decided to be part of the Easter Athletics Festival and looked upon me as some kind of 'ultra' freak. I was coaxed into running the Good Friday 5.8 mile road race at Douglas and then disappeared to my friends' house at Ballasalla to rest for the big one on Saturday. The only other Dark Peaker competing was that honorary Manxman John Feist, whom I had already greeted from the window of a steam train trundling its way round to Port Erin, but Mike, our editor, was also there giving welcome mora] support along the way. I wanted to at least equal my previous time of 4:50 in 1981 and equipped myself for a fast crossing, gambling on keeping warm under my lifas, secure in the knowledge that my bumbag was stuffed with a protective raintop.

Not far out of Elfin Glen (1 mile) spots of heavy rain splashed onto the road as we crossed and by the time we reached North Barrule the conditions were horrendous with a severe gale blowing sleet and stabbing hail into our faces. I was feeling shivery as early as Black Hut (5 mile) but forced myself onto Snaefell in the belief that it could only get better. At the top I was so disorientated that I lost the path and spiralled off the mountain following the railroad.

At Bungalow I told Mo that I was retiring to save myself for the London Marathon but just then Simon appeared full of confidence so I found myself reluctantly heading for Injbreck having grabbed an extra sweat top. On the way my speech slurred to such an extent that I practised talking to myself to monitor my condition, wondering whether I would succumb to exposure. Fortunately, the worst was over and the weather brightened as I climbed Colden (11 miles). I was way behind schedule but warming up in the increasingly sunny weather and, above all, it was the pleasure of being on the Manx hills that kept me going.

The 'new' route to St. Johns (used since 1987) seemed an improvement on the old one even though it added nearly a mile to the distance. A quick wave from Stephanie Quirk, marshalling on Cronk-ny-Arry-Laa saw me in a good mood for the lovely descent to Sloe. The final climb from Fleshwick (28 miles) to Bradda Head was hot work and it was strange to think how awful the weather had been earlier on. My strong finish convinced me that the decision at Bungalow to continue was not so foolhardy after all I The buffet supper at Rushden FC was a tame affair compared to the Festival prize giving and disco at Summer land the following night where, had the O'Kells been up to strength, not to mention quality, the beer drinking contest would have been a rather different affair!

Frank Thomas

Position	Name	Club	Class	Time	Comment	Bonus
1	P. Irwin			05:08:17