Which Andy Duncan do you prefer?

OK then. There have been plenty of comments on the forum and on Facebook this week about Andy Duncan's 1970s retro-style appearance on the team photo taken this week. So - which do you prefer? The 2007 Rhodes version (top), or the 1974 - sorry, 2009 - pre-Aland version (middle)?

And, to get straight to the point, should Andy get his hair cut before Friday? Answers on the forum or on Facebook - to help you make up your mind, here is how the whole team looks with Andy's current hairstyle (thanks to the Brand family)!!

Third Time Lucky?

Top: Typical determination from Darren Gray during the 2009 Easter Festival Relay on Douglas Promenade (photo: Murray Lambden). Bottom: Ben Brand pictured after running the last leg of the 4x400m Relay final in Rhodes in 2007 (photo: Caroline Brand)


The two most experienced members of the men’s team in terms of previous Island Games appearances are distance runner/steeplechaser Darren Gray and sprinter/long jumper Ben Brand. Both will be competing in their third Island Games.


The ’Foxdale Flyer’ Darren Gray made his Games debut in Guernsey in 2003, producing a terrific performance in the 3000m steeplechase to finish just out of the medals in 4th place. In Shetland 2 years later, he moved up to the Half Marathon, and although a novice at the distance he was part of the silver medal winning team along with John Halligan and Andy Fox. Indeed it was Darren’s last-ditch sprint finish to overhaul Guernsey’s Lee Garland (an athlete who has had many a battle with the Isle of Man’s finest) in the final 100 metres that turned what would have been bronze medals for the team into silvers. It was a moment I remember very well from the Shetland Games of 2005.

Darren’s form dipped somewhat over the following 3 years, and he missed out on selection for the 2007 Games in Rhodes. After a slightly disappointing track season in 2008 Darren had a really poor run by his standards in the Peel Heritage Trail run last August which severely dented his confidence, and it would be fair to say that his athletics career was at a definite crossroads at that stage. Since then he has responded magnificently. Over the past winter and into the 2009 track season Darren has found his best-ever form, his hard work and gritty determination being rewarded with an excellent cross country season and a series of pb times on both road and track over many different distances.

Darren has been helped by being part of Andy Fox’s training group who are often as competitive in training as they are in races! A few weeks ago he managed to out-run Kevin Loundes on the final 400m rep of a tough session – and not many can claim to have done that over the past year or so! I can see no reason why Darren’s great improvement over the past year can’t continue and I think his best is still to come. Now aged 28, he will be contesting the Half Marathon and 3000m steeplechase events in Aland , and can look forward confidently to performing well in both. Darren will feel at home in Aland as he is used to visiting the Baltic!!


Also making his third Island Games appearance is the multi-talented Ben Brand. Perhaps Ben’s biggest problem as an athlete is being such a natural in so many disciplines of the sport that probably no-one, Ben included, quite knows which his best event is! Over the past few years he has achieved Island Games selection guideline performances in about 7 different events, which tells its own story. If only there was a multi-event competition in the Island Games!

Ben made his Island Games debut in Shetland in 2005 at the age of 16, and performed brilliantly. He finished 5th in the 800m in a time of 2.02 on what I recall was a cold and windy day, and did even better to finish 4th in the 400m in 50.67 – just 0.2 of a second behind the bronze medalist. During 2006 and the early part of 2007, Ben made spectacular progress in both the 400m and 800m, shattering some long-standing age group Manx records in the process. All seemed set for a cracking Island Games in Rhodes in 2007, but sadly it was not to be. A calf strain sustained during one of the first training sessions on arrival in Rhodes ruled Ben out of all his events until the very last day of competition. He recovered sufficiently to run a cracking last leg in the 4x400m relay final, in which the team missed both the bronze medal and the senior IOM record by about a second, but it was small consolation.

Since 2007, Ben’s athletics career has changed direction slightly, and he is now concentrating very much on the sprint events rather than middle distance. He will be one of the team’s busiest athletes in Aland as he is entered in the 100m, 200m, 400m, both relays and the Long Jump! He will surely have to sacrifice at least one of those (probably the 100m) to give himself the best chance of success. Ben will be looking to claim his first Island Games medal this year, and his best chance is likely to be in the relays where the team looks strong in both events.


6 days to go…

Island Games records

Pictured below are two Island Games record holders from the Isle of Man.

A famous photo of Martin Aram on his way to winning the gold medal in the High Jump during the 2005 Games in Shetland (photo www.shetland.gov.uk).

Women’s 400m record holder Julie Harrison (nee Moore), pictured with Noel Cringle after the Manx Harriers Open Meeting in 2004 (photo Stan Hall).

It was interesting to look through the current list of Island Games records for each event on the official site. I have re-formatted them and put them into a more logical order, and they are as follows:

Event Record Holder Island Year

Men

100m 10.60 Gordon Crowe Isle of Man 1989
200m 21.31 Mattias Sunneborn Gotland 1999
400m 46.70 Dale Garland Guernsey 2007
800m 1.50.37 Michael Guegan Jersey 1993
1500m 3.51.28 Lee Merrien Guernsey 2007
5000m 14.38.69 Mikael Nordblom Åland 1991
10000m 30.17.32 Kim Godtfredsen Greenland 1997
Half Marathon 67.54 Richard Large Isle of Wight 1991
110m Hurdles 14.65 Dale Garland Guernsey 2005
400m Hurdles 51.27 Dale Garland Guernsey 2003
3000m S/Chase 8.57.46 Mikael Nordblom Åland 1991
4x100m Relay 42.00 Guernsey Team Guernsey 2003
4x400m Relay 3.16.03 Guernsey Team Guernsey 2007
High Jump 2.13 Martin Aram Isle of Man 2003
Long Jump 7.73 Mattias Sunneborn Gotland 1993
Triple Jump 15.28 Urmas Treiel Saaremaa 1993
Pole Vault 4.62 Bo Jacobsson Gotland 1999
Shot Putt 16.21 Ove Lehto Åland 1997
Discus 49.22 Goran Eklund Åland 1993
Hammer 69.51 Andy Frost Isle of Wight 2007
Javelin 62.59 Sander Suurhans Saaremaa 2007

Women

100m 12.02 Kelly Sotherton Isle of Wight 1997
200m 23.27 Cydonie Mothersill Cayman Islands 2007
400m 55.10 Julie Moore Isle of Man 1995
800m 2.11.90 Eilidh C Mackenzie Western Isles 2007
1500m 4.28.17 Ann-Catrin Nordman Åland 1991
5000m 17.01.0 Maria Pardalou Rhodes 2007
10000m 36.11.68 Ann-Catrin Nordman Åland 1997
Half Marathon 73.35 Brenda Walker Isle of Man 1991
100m Hurdles 14.39 Kelly Sotherton Isle of Wight 1997
400m Hurdles 60.72 Diana Lindqvist Åland 1991
4x100m Relay 47.60 Cayman Team Cayman Islands 1999
4x400m Relay 3.54.60 Cayman Team Cayman Islands 1999
High Jump 1.75 Diana Lindqvist Åland 2003
Long Jump 5.95 Kim Murray Isle of Wight 2007
Triple Jump 12.11 Kalliopi Neski Rhodes 1999
Shot Putt 12.86 Virge Treiel Saaremaa 1997
Discus 44.91 Lauren Therin Rhodes 2007
Hammer 45.04 Amy Church Isle of Wight 2005
Javelin 50.84 Linda Lindqvist Åland 1997

The site only lists records for events that will be contested in the 2009 Games. Four of these records are currently held by Isle of Man athletes, although two of them don’t quite tell the full story. Gordon Crowe’s 100m time of 10.60 in the Faroe Islands in 1989 was recorded with a strong tailwind well over the legal limit, and was not therefore ratified as an Isle of Man record. It does however apparently still count as an Island Games record. It was also generally accepted that the Half Marathon course in Aland in 1991 was measured inaccurately, and therefore Brenda Walker’s fabulous run that year was actually over a distance some way short of 13.1 miles, as was that of the Isle of Wight’s Richard Large.

Martin Aram’s High Jump record of 2.13m, set in 2003, could come under threat this year as one of the Cayman athletes has a pb of 2.19m. I think that the women’s 400m record of 55.1, set in Gibraltar in 1995 by Julie Moore (now Harrison), should be safe for another 2 years though – nobody else in the history of the Games has ever got to within a second of Julie’s time!

I hope that a few of the current and prospective future Isle of Man team members look at this list and think ‘I could break one of those’, and I think there is a realistic chance of at least one and possibly two of the 2009 team setting new records if all goes well on the day. In 2 years’ time there may well be two or three others who could challenge these records. Looking ahead briefly to the next Games in 2011 on the Isle of Wight, I would love to see a shoot-out between Keith Gerrard and Guernsey’s Lee Merrien (with Keith winning, obviously!) over any distance from 1500m to Half Marathon – that could take the records into orbit!

9 days to go…

Results page goes live!

Top: The logo on the official Island Games 2009 Results Site. Below: The view the St Helena team will have on their return to the island's capital Jamestown in about 4 weeks time! (from www.sthelena.se)

We really are getting close now – the official event website has launched its live results page today! This is at

http://www.alandresults2009.com/

This site is completely interactive and lists all entrants in the Games in every sport. This can be listed by island, by sport, etc. Competitors can click onto their events and see exactly who the opposition is and see a photo of each of their rivals. Note – photos are not shown for competitors under the age of 16, so Danielle Ross’ photo should appear on the site tomorrow. Happy birthday Danielle! The site is packed with information including the full schedule, Games records etc, and is well worth a look.

The Isle of Man team are busy making late preparations before their departure a week on Friday, and on the days of travel they will have the luxury of direct flights to Aland. Not so the team from St Helena, who are shortly leaving for a 3-day boat journey to Ascension Island. From there they have a marathon flight to London, where they stay overnight before catching another flight to Stockholm. They will then get a coach to the ferry terminal, and after a 3-hour sailing they will finally arrive in Mariehamn on the 25th June. They will presumably be travelling back the same way. That's an even longer journey than mine!

To me it’s the small teams from far-flung places like St Helena, right in the middle of the southern Atlantic Ocean, that make the Island Games so special. When Gail and I were in Shetland as supporters in 2005 we stayed in a B&B in Lerwick, and one of the other guests was a lady from St Helena who travels to every Island Games to support her fellow islanders. Their entire team usually only consists of about 6 to 8 competitors, but I still remember her absolute joy at seeing one of them win a badminton match! Just to show what a small world it is, I discovered that her doctor about 20-30 years ago was ‘Doc’ Dave Young of local fell running fame – he had a spell working in St Helena in his younger days!

10 days to go – I wonder if the 2007 Opening Ceremony has finished yet…

Good performances at Merseyside Schools

It was good to look through the results of yesterday's Merseyside Schools Track and Field Championships at Bebington and see several of the Aland-bound athletes in good form. I was especially pleased to see excellent results from two athletes who haven't had the easiest of starts to the season but who are now obviously coming into top form just when it really matters.

Tom Richmond produced his fastest 800m of the season to take the Senior Boys title in the tightest of finishes in a time of 1.57.7, and Ciara McDonnell set a new pb of 42.4 for the 300m and a time of 26.8 in the 200m which is not too far away from her best. These results should do wonders for their confidence. Full results are at

http://www.thepowerof10.info/resultsfiles/2009/28028_6002_13062009213538_Merseyside%20T&F%20results%202009.pdf

I haven't had much time to update the blog recently with the TT and all that, and for some strange reason the blog was 'locked' for a couple of days as it was identified by the host site as potential spam!!! Presumably there are thousands of others out there all writing Aland 2009 blogs. Features on Darren Gray, Ben Brand, Sarah Dowling, Harriet Pryke and Hollie Bass will appear over the next week.

I hope the weather in Aland improves soon as it is awful at the moment - cold, wet and windy!

It happened last time…

There have been many references on the blog so far to the most recent Island Games, held in Rhodes in 2007. It may be of interest to look back at the reports that were done at the time from those of us in Rhodes.

Regular reports on the Manx Athletics forum appeared here (probably best to switch to ‘board’ style to read them all):

http://pub38.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3219660836&frmid=54&msgid=628932&cmd=show


Phil Riley, who set a new IOM record in the Long Jump in Rhodes, was blogging regularly – his page is here:

http://iomathletes.blogspot.com/


Ian Astin was only in Rhodes for the first 3 days of competition, but took well over 200 photographs. I have used several of these to go with this blog – thanks Ian. These are at:

http://www.ianastin.fotopic.net/c1319066.html (Day 1)

http://www.ianastin.fotopic.net/c1319086.html (Day 2)

http://www.ianastin.fotopic.net/c1319106.html (Day 3)


As far as the 2009 event is concerned, Caroline and Anthony Brand will have their camera in Aland and plan to upload photos regularly, and I will be reporting at least once a day on the blog. Add in the Manx Radio and IOM Newspapers coverage, together with the results on the official Games website, and hopefully our athletes will get plenty of publicity throughout the Games. I’m sure Murray Lambden will link all these through www.manxathletics.com during the Games – assuming he’s recovered from covering the Parish Walk by then!

If I had a little more technical expertise (I have approximately none!) I would consider uploading some video footage each day, but that’s not going to happen this time. I will be filming most of the events, which will go onto a DVD when I have time to edit it all when I get home. Perhaps later in the summer we can arrange a get-together to watch the ‘premiere’?

Over the next week or so the blog will feature the 5 ‘old timers’ in the team who have already competed in 2 or more Island Games. These are 19 year old Harriet Pryke, 20 year old Ben Brand, and over-21s Darren Gray, Sarah Dowling and Hollie Bass!

Second Time Around – Part 4

Rachael Franklin finishes 2nd in her 800m heat in Rhodes, behind Claire Wilson (Shetland) and ahead of Martine Scholes (Guernsey). Photo - Ian Astin

Gail Griffiths pictured in the early stages of the Half Marathon in Rhodes, in which she finished 11th. Photo - Ian Astin

Gail and Rachael pictured by Murray Lambden just after the 2009 Easter Festival 5k race on Douglas Prom. Rachael narrowly beat her IOM teammate in that race!

The final two athletes to be featured in the ‘Second Time Around’ category are middle distance runner Rachael Franklin and long-distance specialist Gail Griffiths, both of whom made their Island Games debuts in Rhodes 2 years ago. Both absolutely love running; both work extremely hard to make the most of their ability; one is 27 years older than the other!

17 year old Rachael Franklin has been competing in running events of all types since she was very young, and it was always obvious that she had masses of talent. Whether it was cross country, hill races, track or road, she was good at them all, but initially it looked as if she was most likely to favour the longer distance events. About 3 or 4 years ago she developed much more basic speed, and that combined with building up her physical strength has seen her develop into an outstanding middle distance runner. The 800m is probably Rachael’s best event now, but she is also a very strong 1500m runner and has enough speed to be an important member of the 4x400m relay team too. She will be busy in Aland – and very competitive in all 3 events!

Rachael’s performances in Rhodes at the age of 15 were brilliant. She was 7th in the 1500m, and took a superb 4th place in the 800m. The times she recorded in each event would have won medals in most previous Island Games, but the standard in the women’s middle distance events in 2007 was extremely high. Over the past 2 years, Rachael has worked exceptionally hard and shown real dedication to improving as an athlete. She has always loved running and being in the company of other athletes, but she is much more focussed these days. Being part of Di Shimell’s training group has brought her on a lot, particularly being able to train regularly with Sarah Dowling who sets such a great example to all the other athletes. Two of Rachael’s targets are an Island Games gold medal and the Isle of Man 800m record (currently 2.13), and I think she will achieve both – perhaps not this year, but she will achieve them in the not-too-distant future. If Rachael continues to work hard, enjoy her running and stay injury-free she can dominate the local athletics scene for many years.


In 2005, a few months after her 40th birthday, Gail Griffiths travelled to Shetland for a holiday to support the Isle of Man’s athletics team in the Island Games without the slightest thought of competing in the event in the future. She had no athletics background, and had taken up running 2 years earlier to improve her fitness for racing her motorbike in the MGP. Gail started competing in cross country and road races, but initially stuck to the short courses - anything over about 2 miles was out of the question at that stage. During the second half of 2005 she started increasing her training, and began to rapidly improve. By early 2006 she was running 10k in under 44 minutes and was considering trying a Half Marathon later that year. After a discussion with Andy Fox at Easter that year she decided to commit to a serious and structured training programme with the aim of getting to the 2007 Island Games. This she achieved, with two excellent runs in her first two Half Marathons gaining her selection for both the Half Marathon and 10000m races in Rhodes.

Gail was far from her best in Rhodes, largely because she suffered a series of niggling injuries as she increased the mileage in training on the build-up to the Games, but also due to the worry of her Mum being critically ill in hospital after being involved in a TT marshalling accident only a couple of weeks before the Games. There have been no such problems this time, and 2 years of extremely hard work (including injury prevention measures) have been rewarded with regular terrific performances and substantial pb times across all her distances. Gail will be giving it everything to try and challenge for an individual medal in both the 10000m and Half Marathon, but if she doesn’t make it this time she intends to still be around for another go in 2011!

Athletics programme and entry lists published

Over the last couple of days, the full programme for the Athletics events has been published on the official website, along with entry lists for each event. This can be viewed at

http://www.natwestislandgames2009.ax/files/athletics_programme.pdf

Well done to the organising committee for getting these published well in advance of the Games - I don't think we saw an 'advance' list of competitors in Rhodes until the very last day of competition!! Many of the pb performances of the athletes have been published, which highlight the fact that the standard is going to be high in most of the events. There are a few weak or poorly-supported events - only 5 competitors in the women's Javelin for example - but generally the standard of competition looks very good.

One huge disappointment to me is that the organisers have chosen to hold the Half Marathon events at the same time as several Track & Field events on the final day of competition. This has certainly not happened in the last 2 Games I have been at, and it will force me as a supporter to choose between watching the Half Marathon or the Track & Field events on the Friday. Naturally I will be supporting Gail and the 3 Manx men in the Half Marathon, so I will miss both 4x400m relays and the Men's 1500m. I will also miss the medal ceremonies for the women's 800m, Men's 400m, Men's 1500m and all 4 relays. As we have a good chance of success in many of these events I feel totally cheated by this to be honest, especially as I have paid a heck of a lot of money to travel to Aland to support the team and the Island Games in general. I feel I am entitled to be able to watch every athletics event.

Considering the athletics programme has been spread over 6 days this time (it is usually 5) I can see no reason for there to be any clashes. This situation will also put pressure on the management team who will have to cover both events. I really hope there is still time for a rethink on this - I have emailed the athletics co-ordinator with some of these thoughts, so will see if there is any reaction. I was hoping to video every event and all the medal ceremonies involving our athletes, but it looks like quite a few on the last day will be missing now!

Second Time Around – Part 3

Charlotte Christian pictured during the Shot Putt competition in Rhodes in 2007 (photo: Ian Astin).

The late Merrik Bousfield, friend and mentor to many Manx throwers, pictured during the 2005 Games in Shetland (photo Graham Davies).

Gemma Astin takes the bell during the 1500m race in Rhodes in 2007 (photo Ian Astin).

Four of the female members of the team will be travelling to their second Island Games later this month – one thrower, two middle distance competitors and one long distance runner. This entry looks at two of them; the other two will feature next time.

19 year old Hammer thrower Charlotte Christian made a promising debut in Rhodes, where she finished in 8th place with a best throw of 30.92m. She also competed in the Shot Putt event, finishing 12th. Competing in her first Island Games definitely helped Charlotte to focus on what she wants to achieve and the standards required, and she has worked very hard since on both technique and fitness. Her Hammer pb has improved at regular intervals over the past couple of years, and now stands at 38.99m. Her target for this season of 40 metres plus is now tantalisingly close – will it come at the Games? It is hard to predict what the standard of competition will be in Aland, but the bronze medal in Rhodes was won with a throw of 36.53m. Charlotte will have her work cut out though, as her team mate Marit Zahkna is aiming for 50 metres! It’s great to see such strength in the Isle of Man team in one of the throwing events - can we dare to dream that they will both get onto the podium?

Charlotte has been studying in Ormskirk for the past 2 years, and will be starting a course at Liverpool John Moores University this autumn. She has benefited greatly from the set-up at her club Liverpool Pembroke & Sefton AC, which has a strong tradition in the throwing events. Her initial introduction to the club was through the late Merrik Bousfield, who did so much to help Manx throwers over several years and was part of the management and coaching team for the Shetland Games in 2005. Merrik is still fondly remembered by all who knew him and he would be proud of the progress Charlotte has made over the past 2 years. Charlotte puts plenty back into athletics too, always willing to help out with officiating and coaching young athletes, and she deserves to be successful. I hope she is part of the Manx athletics scene for many years to come.


One of the most successful junior athletes the Isle of Man has produced in recent years is 17 year old Gemma Astin. Since getting involved with athletics about 5 years ago, Gemma’s achievements at both middle distance track running and cross country have been too numerous to list in a couple of paragraphs. Some of my favourite memories of Manx athletics over the past 3 or 4 years have been the performances of Gemma and her younger sister Sarah in the big cross country events in the UK, where they have both regularly achieved very high placings against the best athletes in the country in their age groups. Gemma has also been Lancashire age group champion several times on both track and country. The highlight of her career to date must be gaining selection for the Commonwealth Youth Games in India last autumn, where she contested the 3000m event. Prior to travelling to India she did an interview with me for the Manx Harriers website – this is still online at http://www.manxathletics.com/manxharriers/mhgemmaastin.htm.

Gemma made an outstanding Island Games debut in Rhodes at the age of 15, finishing 6th in the 1500m and 5th in the 5000m in times that would have won medals in nearly every previous Games. Her time of precisely 18 minutes in the 5000m race was astonishing and she ran with a maturity far beyond her years. She is entered for the same 2 events in Aland. Over the past few months a succession of niggling injury and illness problems have resulted in the first real dip in form of Gemma’s career, and she cannot be expected to perform to the same level in Aland as she did in Rhodes 2 years ago. But regardless of what happens in Aland – and she will give it her all, as she always does – I have every confidence that Gemma will go on to become a fine senior athlete, probably in the distance events.


The next entry will feature two athletes at opposite ends of the age spectrum (!) – Rachael Franklin and Gail Griffiths.

Winter returns to Aland!

This was the scene in Aland at 4.30pm local time today, captured by the webcam overlooking Mariehamn's western harbour. This is about half a mile from the athletics stadium. Web link http://www.ha.ax/weather/ha/index.php?link=4&camsize=1


Whilst the Isle of Man has been basking in temperatures of up to 25C over the past few days, it seems that summer has yet to fully arrive in Aland. After a promising few days last week when the temperature got up to around 14C, the BBC forecast today shows a maximum temperature for the next 2 days of only 9C in Mariehamn, and some rain is expected in the coming days. Indeed when I had a quick look at the webcam at 4.30pm local time today, the temperature was only 6.1C, it was windy and the rain was lashing down. Just like a horrible mid-January day here, except with more than 20 hours of daylight!

Of course things can change a lot in 3 weeks, and hopefully we will get plenty of sunny and pleasantly warm weather during the Games. I guess the best advice for everyone going to Aland is to be prepared for anything! My bags will contain t-shirts and shorts, but there will also be waterproofs, fleeces, gloves, a woolly hat and a fairly thick coat in there as well. I suspect that the fleece jacket Gail insisted on taking to Rhodes 2 years ago will definitely be worn at some stage this time!

They only have a fairly short summer in Aland, and it’s a heck of a long winter there. Towards the end of April, the temperature was still hovering around the freezing mark, and in the depths of winter there are only a few short hours of daylight. We complain about our winters here, but from the point of view of training for the Island Games I think our athletes have much better year-round conditions than our rivals from the more northerly islands.

22 days to go – must get those Euros ordered!