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The Roadrunner Archives
 
End to End TEAM ALPHA SPORTS
End to End Relay
Record Breakers
left to right
Andrew Horne, Chris Quine, Steve Kelly,
Graham Clarke, Dave Newton, Allan Gage and Paul Clarke
Manx Games at the Bowl, Marie Noon, Pamela Mitchell, Christine Kissack, Linda Jordan, 279?
 

Paul Bawden Manx record holder for over 20 years (Record now broken)

Photo's Les Corkhill
Peter Gorden from Laxey turned out for the IOM in St Helens went on to become British Champion.
Isle of Mans first International Track & Field Meeting 1977 at St Helens.

Holding the flag right to left Graham Davies, Marie Noon, Christine Kissack, Linda Jordan, Pamela Mitchell, Second row Di Shimell, Debbie Hayes, ????, Mark Crosbie, Barry Forth, Steve Gregson. Third row Steve Higgins, Philip Walker, Tony Brown MP St Helens, Paul Bawden, Forth row George Anderson, Dave Anderson, Steve Kelly, Keith Callister just behind Keith is Colin Watterson and little further along is John Butterworth & Peter McElroy. The results was a win for GB, second IOM (yes it's true) third Germany forth France.

If you know ??? please email me roadruner@iomathletics.co.uk

 photo: Les Corkhill

Isle of Man Cross Country Championships 1977

Dave Newton ran a well judged race to win the IOM Senior Cross Country Championship over a slightly different route due to the dangerous condition of a small part of the course at Port e chee Meadow on Sunday afternoon. By the time the runners had completed the first lap in the senior race about 1.5 miles Newton led narrowly from last years winner Steve Kelly, these two being about 50 yards clear of next runner. At the end of lap three (4.75 mile) Newton had a minute lead over Kelly with Bob Cowley third. These positions remained unaltered to the finish, while Eric Nelson had an excellent run to finish forth. The junior men’s race was won by Keith Callister in 38 mins 06 secs with Simon Capelen snatching second place from Paul Bawden by 6 seconds. Andrew Horne continued his winning ways with yet another excellent run in youth race and for the first time this season was given some competition in his class and it was one of these newcomers Adrian Costain who took second place followed by Peter Kennaugh third. The biggest shock of the day came in the boys 3.75 mile event with Mark McDermott unbeaten since November getting beaten into second place by inform Ian Large, proving a few people wrong in there predictions, third was Barry Forth. Stephen Mackie proved to speedy for his rivals in the colts 2 mile race, covering the distance in 12 mins 12 sec, which gave him a winning margin of 28 seconds over Martyn Stricket who in turn was 51 seconds faster than third finisher Chris Quine. In the young colts class over 1 mile there was a tremendous race between Philip Whittam and Andrew Garrett which was only resolved in the run in when Garrett eased ahead to score a 6 second victory, with Whittam second and Simon Surridge third. Little Chris Cain was given the race of his life in the minor colts class with James Clague pushing him all the way round only lose in the final few yards. Christine Kissack had no trouble in retaining her title in the Ladies 3.25 mile race with newcomer Tam Gilbert taking second place from Linda Jorden.Merseyside Champions Marie Noon and Melanie McDermott clashed in the junior girls two mile race, and it was a pity that someone had to lose between these two great runners and on this occasion it was McDermott after a race long battle another battle was brewing for third place between Janice Pearson And Pamela Mitchell with Mitchell just getting the verdict on the line. The Russell family made it a double championship win with Pam Russell taking the girls title from Sue Ling Lee and Sister Elizabeth taking the honours from Samantha Olsen in the minor girl’s class. Mai Jing Lee took first place in the young girls one mile event by over half a minute from Sharon Corlett with Janet Osborne third. Despite the artic type weather conditions there was a very good turn out of athletes with a total of 93 starters and every competitor deserved considerable praise for participating in such  a bitterly cold, wet afternoon in ankle deep mud, if special medals were to be presented for merit they should go too the officials of the day these hardy individuals braved the downpours and freezing conditions and yet still retained their sense of humour when everyone else was huddled around a blazing fire at home. By the roadrunner

 
 

1977 National Cross-Country Championships

Last Friday a party of Athletes and Officials representing the Manx Athletic Club travelled to London to take part in the National Cross Country Championships. The event took place at Parliament Hill on a fairly flat course with a few steep climbs and very thick in mud in places. The first race of the afternoon was for the Youths (15 & 16 years of age) and in this four mile event we saw Andrew Horne take on the best in Britain, with an entry of 1,110 Andrew forced his way through the field to 253 position ten places higher than last year. Next event was the Junior Men’s 6 mile race, with Keith Callister and John Wadsworth running for the Island, this being Keith’s first cross country race off Island and with an entry of 1,023 he did very well finishing in 331st position while Wadsworth finished 359th  also in his National. The final race and the Greatest Cross Country race in the World, the English Senior Men’s Cross Country Championship for athletes over 19 years of age, over a nine mile course. What a spectacle this race is there is no way you can watch this race and not be moved by it, two thousand runners are lined up across 200 yards of lush grass at the bottom of a chilling hill on Parliament hill. They inch forward waiting impatiently for the maroon to start the stampede, and then those inches become feet and then yards until the line breaks and the starter is left helpless. The flowing kaleidoscopic river of fit humanity was 200 yards up the hill before the maroon went off, and by then nobody was going to take his life in his hands in an attempt to turn back the charge. The Manx team was one of the worst sufferers, behaving impeccably, and getting left behind, and by the top of the hill 70 feet above the start and 300 yards on they were somewhere in the melee with hundreds of bodies in front of them. Island Champion Dave Newton was having a nightmare of a run and lost touch with team mate Steve Kelly was running brilliantly in about 700th place, in midfield was Graham Davies who on the next lap was to suffer terribly and drop hundreds of places down the field while Ian Callister, John Wright and John Comaish were now moving up the field with Ian running very well on his National debut. On the last lap every athlete tried to make an extra effort to pull back a few places and boost the team score. All the Manx lads ran well on this final circuit, first Manxman home was Kelly in 528th place a position he will be delighted with second home and not happy with his position was Newton in 641st place followed by Callister 894th,  John Wright 1194th both these lads running very well on their first National. Davies looked like a new man as he came round on his last lap and must have overtaken hundreds to catch up with Comaish who was given a welcome tow home by his team mate to finish 1209th only 8 places behind Davies who finished 1202nd well below his potential placing. All performance in this National were better than we dared hope for and so to the National 1978? On behalf of the Manx team I would like to thank Dave Phillips and Dave Horne for acting as team Manager and recorder and for ensuring that we did not get lost in London’s underground. By the Roadrunner

 Results

1st Brendan Foster          43m 49s
2nd Bernie Ford              43m 50s
3rd Tony Simmons          43m 53s
528 Steve Kelly
641 Dave Newton
894 Ian Callister
1194 John Wright
1202 Graham Davies
1209 John Comaish
 

The Isle of Man Junior Road Running Championships

While the senior runners where in London the Northern Athletic Club was holding the junior road race championships in Ramsey. And from what I’ve heard and seen in the results there were some very exciting and close races, And this years Champions are Mark McDermott (Boys 13 & 14) Martyn Stricket (Colts) Andrew Garrett (young Colts) Chris Cain (minor Colts)  Christine Kissack (ladies) Marie Noon (Junior Ladies) Sue Ling Lee and Pam Russell tie (Girls) Mai Ying Lee and Sharon Corlett tie (Young Girls) Elizabeth Russell (Minor Girls) by the roadrunner 

 
Results
Boys     3.4 mile
                                    1           Mark McDermott                        17.59
                                    2          Ian Large                                   18.42
                                    3          Barry Forth                                19.22
 
Colts    2.5 miles
                                    1          Martyn Strickett                         14.03
                                    2          Chris Quine                               14.17
                                    3          Mark Lewin                                14.26
                                    4          David James                              16.04
                                    5          Mark Blencowe                          16.18
                                    6          Robbie Moore                            16.54
                                    7          Gary Lewin                                17.37
                                    8          Gary Bishop                              17.55
 
Young Colts 1.7 miles 
1          Andrew Garrett                           9.39
                                    2          Simon Surridge                           9.40     
                                    3          Stephen Ingham                        10.32
                                    4          Alistair Bishop                           11.22
                                    5          Chris Holland                             11.27
 
Minor Colts .85 mile
                                    1          Chris Cain                                 4.55
                                    2          James Clague                            4.57
                                    3          Max Holland                              5.06
                                    4          Richard Cowley                          5.24
                                    5          Adrian Gell                                5.24
                                    6          Paul Corkill                                5.27
                                    7          Andrew Bostock                        5.27
                                    8          Nigel Simpson                           5.41
                                    9          Paul Garrett                               5.47
                                    10         Stephen Hardy                           5.47
                                    11         Jonathon Kennaugh                    6.05
                                    12         Haydn Parrick                            6.15
 
Ladies 3.4 miles
                                    1          Christine Kissack                       21.12
                                    2          Linda Jordan                              22.05
 
Junior Ladies   2.5 m
                                    1          Marie Noon                                14.06
                                    2          Melanie Mcdermott                    14.08
                                    3          Pam Mitchell                             15.28
                                    4          Janice Pearson                          15.36
                                    5          Karen Pope                               16.15
                                    6          Julie Moore                                16.17
                                    7          Sharon Hashim                          16.18

Next Event

The last race in the King & Queen of the hills league is at Slieu Whallian, starting 2.30 at St Johns AFC Ground.
 

Steve Kelly is the King By the roadrunner

After a series of seven strenuous hill races in all parts of the Island, the final league tables in all sections of the “King and Queen of the Hills” series show that Steve Kelly, Andrew Horne, Chris Quine, Andrew Garrett, Christine Kissack, Marie Noon and Anneli Kissack take the titles.Kelly had an excellent season over the hills, and after taking third place last year must be pleased to take the title from his old rival Dave Newton, who came second only 8 points behind, in third spot and only one point ahead of his brother came Keith Callister with 191 points compared with his older brother Ian’s 190 points. Andrew Horne added the Youths hill title to the Island Cross Country Championships he won earlier this month, he ran with style all season and finished 11 points ahead Barry Forth with Ian Large third. In the colt’s class it was again that outstanding competitor Chris Quine who took the honours, repeating last year’s performance. In second spot came newcomer Mark Lewin who did very well in his first season over hills as did Robbie Moore who finished third. Top of the league in the Young Colts section came Andrew Garrett who had an excellent season and finished 6 points clear of Stephen Ingham, who took second place while Karl Baxter occupied a popular third place. Christine Kissack retained the Ladies title she won last year by quite a comfortable margin from Linda Jorden, with Island sprinter Diana Shimell third. A youngster in her first season in athletics took the title in Girls section, Marie Noon with her team mate Julie Moore just snatching second spot from Pamela Mitchell. Anneli Kissack made it a family double by taking the minor Girls title repeating big sister Christine’s performances over the hills and finishing just 4 points ahead of Catherine Lees who took second place while Janet Osborne finished third.  

Hill League Results

SENIORS                                                                                                                YOUTHS
1                              Steve Kelly                              223 points                               1              Andrew Horne        80
2                              Dave Newton                          215                                          2              Barry Forth              69
3                              Keith Callister                          191                                          3              Ian Large                 56
4                              Ian Callister                              190                                          4              Mark McDermott      32
5                              Colin Watterson                       161
6                              Eric Nelson                              145                                          COLTS
7                              Tony Varley                            132                                          1              Chris Quine             84
8                              Peter Simpson                         113                                          2              Mark Lewin             69
9                              Bob Baxter                              110                                          3              Robbie Moore          57
10                            Bob Cowley                            110                                          4              Stephen Mackie       40
11                            Graham Davies                       102                                          5              Michael Watterson  39
12                            Dave Capelen                          97                                            6              Gary Lewin             33
13                            Eddie Harvey                           96                                            7              Stephen Mitchell      28
14                            Mike Gellion                             94                                            8              Graham Adamson   13
15                            Eddie Convery                         87                                            9              Andrew Walker       11
16                            John Comaish                          75                                            10            Shaun Gelling          6
17                            Steve Higgins                          65                                            11            Robin Gellin             3
18                            Mike Gray                                54
19                            John Cannell                            54                                            YOUNG COLTS
20                            Graham Young                        50                                            1              Andrew Garrett      75
21                            Eric Ainscough                        45                                            2              Stephen Ingham      69
22                            Phil Walker                               40                                            3              Karl Baxter              58
23                            Paul Bawden                           25                                            4              Alistair Pope            15
24                            Tony Dale                                24                                            5              Robert Prior             12
25                            Phil Brooks                              18                                            6              Phil Whittam             8
26                            Stuart Lambie                          17                                            7              Karl Adamson         8
27                            Ernie Lightfoot                         12                                            8              Michael Bridson       7
28                            Kevin Osborne                        12                                            9              Chris Holliday          6
29                            Arthur Christian                       11
30                            Terry Crellin                             9                                              JUNIOR GIRLS
31                            John Welsh                             8                                              1              Marie Noon              87
                                                                                                                                2              Julie Moore              65
LADIES                                                                                                                    3              Pamela Mitchell        60
1                              Christine Kissack                    67                                            4              Melanie McDermott 59
2                              Linda Jorden                           51                                            5              Tina Raby                14
3                              Diana Shimell                           36                                            6              Donna Burns           6
 
GIRLS
1                              Anneli Kissack                        60
2                              Catherine Lees                        56
3                              Janet Osborne                        44
4                              Janet Hughes                          8
5                              Janice Shimmin                        7
6                              Michelle Devereau                   6             
 

RECORDS SMASHED AT KIRK MICHAEL By the roadrunner

Round five in the “king and Queen of the hills” league was held at Kirk Michael on Sunday, over the Slieu Curn circuit, in perfect weather conditions, which resulting in a staggering total of 14 breaking performances. In the Men’s 5.5 mile race, Dave Newton and Steve Kelly battled for the honours, and both lads clipped a minute off the record, with Dave getting the verdict by inches. The Callister brothers were unable to match the pace of Kelly & Newton, but finished third and forth. In the Youth class, over the same distance, Andrew Horne had a run-away victory and knocked six minutes of the course record, as did all other competitors. And it was the same in the Colts class, where Stephen Mackie, Chris Quine, Mark Lewin and Robbie Moore all breaking the course record, Mackie won in a time of 17 min 59 secs. No records in the Young Colts race, this being the first time they have encountered the circuit. Andrew Garrett has set a hard record to break of 8 mins 54 sec. Christine Kissack won the Ladies race from Linda Jorden, both these girls where over three minutes behind the star performers in the Junior Girls race, who ran the same distance. With on form Melanie McDermott and Marie Noon having the same sort of battle that we see in Men’s. At the finish it was McDermott first and Noon second (both knocking over five minutes off the record) with Pamela Mitchell third and Julie Moore forth also breaking the old record. Anneli Kissack had a run-away victory in the Girls (9-12 years) class beating second place girl Catherine Lees by over a minute. 

Results

SENIOR MEN 5.5 miles                                             LADIES 3 mile
1              Dave Newton          33 12                       1              Christine Kissack    22 09
2              Steve Kelly              33 12                       2              Linda Jorden           22.56
3              Ian Callister              35 04
4              Keith Callister          35.18                       Junior Girls 3 mile
5              Eric Nelson              36.06                       1              Melanie McDermott  18.14
6              Paul Bawden           36.22                       2              Marie Noon              19.39
7              Eddie Harvey           36.33                       3              Pamela Mitchell        22.21
8              Colin Watterson       37.22                       4              Julie Moore              24.21
9              Steve Higgins          37.31
10            Tony Varley            37.51                       Girls  1.5 miles
11            Dave Capelen          38.04                       1              Anneli Kissack        9.59
12            Graham Davies       38.16                       2              Catherine Lees        11.33
14            Mike Gellion             39.27                       3              Janet Osborne        12.14
15            Peter Simpson         40.45                       4              Janice Shimmin        13.49
16            Phil Brooks              42.09                       5              Michelle Devereau   14.22
17            Phil Walker               43.18
18            Mike Gray                43.32                       Colts 3 mile
19            Bob Baxter              46.10                       1              Stephen Mackie       17.59
                                                                                2              Chris Quine             18.12
YOUTHS  5.5 mile                                                    3              Mark Lewin             19.45
1              Andrew Horne        34.40                       4              Robert Moore          21.00
2              Mark McDermott      36.07                       5              Stephen Mitchell      21.42
3              Barry Forth              37.07                       6              Michael Watterson  25.35
4              Ian Large                 38.38                       7              Gary Lewin             27.21
 
YOUNG COLTS 1.5 mile
1              Andrew Garrett      8.54
2              Stephen Ingham      9.24
3              Phillip Whittam          9.38
4              Karl Baxter              10.33
Next Week
Sunday 30th – Hill Races at Greeba starting 3pm
(No points for Men, Youth or Colts) this is due to the fact that party of Manx Athletes are going away for the West Lancashire Cross Country Championships and I wish them all the best of luck.
 

West Lancashire Cross Country Championships By the roadrunner

Last Friday a party of Athletes representing the Manx Athletic Club to Upholand College, Skelmersdale, to take part in the West Lancashire Cross Country Championships. Some first class performances rewarded the Manx lads with the youngsters producing the highlights of the trip. In the Colts (11 & 12 years) race over 2 miles, with an entry of over 70 which included Stephen Mackie and Chris Quine from the Island. Mackie set off at a tremendous pace chased by Quine as they when out of view Mackie still led with Quine dropping back amongst the main bunch. As the leading quartet came into sight half a mile from the finish Mackie was second and he held this position to the finish just 8 seconds behind Lancashire Schools Cross Country Champion P Wynne of Pilkington’s unbeaten this year, Whilst Quine came home in 18th place another great performance.