The final round of the Callin Wild Manx Fell League took place on Sunday and what a race it turned out to be.

The ‘Spirit of Axnfell for Matt’ was a quite superb race with eventual first-time winner Ollie Chambers and runner-up Orran Smith locked together for the whole of the 28km route in probably the closest ever finish to a local long fell race.

If that did not provide enough excitement, leading woman Nikki Arthur also produced another fantastic run to finish a very an impressive third overall.

The race was dedicated to popular former Manx Fell Runners treasurer Matt McSevney who died tragically in a traffic accident in 2017.

The previous versions of the race had started at the Axnfell Plantation but because of problems with a closed public footpath near the Ballure Road the organising committee were forced to find an alternative route.

Race organiser Chris Kirk came up with the idea of a figure-of-eight course based at the Bungalow that would include most of the previous check points.

The route was possibly a bit shorter but the back-breaking ascent that totalled a whopping 1,800 metres remained the same.

From the Bungalow start the route headed east visiting checkpoints at Clagh Our, Slieau Lhean, Cronk-y-Vaare and Mullagh Ouyr dropping to the valleys and mines between them.

Then on to the western loop passing over Creg-y-Cowin, The Creg via Ardwhallan, Colden, Carraghan, Beinn-y-Phott, the awesome ascent to Snaefell summit from the Millennium Bridge and a final sprint back to the Bungalow.

An entry of 46 runners signed on for action at the Victory Cafe’s ‘Cake Hole’ which is a brilliant facility for which both organisers and runners were extremely grateful for the use of.

There were some serious and nervous looking faces registering as a number of competitors had to complete the difficult race in order to qualify for the league and therefore receive the coveted finisher’s hoodie.

Conditions were clear but with a niggling north-east wind kept the temperature down.

The forecast for later in the day was, to say the least, poor. The organising team had their fingers crossed that all runners would be finished before the adverse weather came in.

From the start the two favourites, Chambers and Smith, powered away and proceeded with their race-long battle with the remainder of the field settling down to what they hoped would be a pace that would see them complete the course.

The two leaders arrived back at the Bungalow after the eastern loop in around 90 minutes and much to the organisers relief everyone made it past within the cut off time of 3 hours 15 minutes.

A nice touch for competitors after crossing the TT road bridge was the opportunity of raising a glass of the hard stuff to Matt.

The second half of the race became a well drawn out affair.

The two leaders continued to press on with top woman Arthur also setting a relentless pace that would continue to the finish.

Back at the Bungalow the finish officials were looking towards the final summit to see who would be the first to appear.

It was Chambers who came into view first, but Smith was still close behind with the eventual winning margin a meagre 17 seconds after just under 4 hours racing.

It was brilliant stuff by both runners.

Next to make the rapid descent home was top woman Arthur to continue the excellent form she has shown throughout 2024.

Peel’s Garry Kelly was next followed by fellow vet 40s Tom Williams, with Paul Jennings completing the top six.

Second woman to finish the course was Amber Carridge from Katherine Cubbon, both showing continued improvement on the fells.

Rosy Craine was top woman vet 50 in fouth place and Jan Gledhill first vet 60 in fifth. Carrie Caren. who was first woman vet 40, completing the top six women.

The men’s category winners were Smith (vet 40), Andy Watson (vet 50) and Paul Sheard (vet 60).

It was pleasing that all those who were relying on a finish in this race to complete their league achieved their goal.

A few were in a group at the rear of the field who were kept in check by Jane Rose who made sure they all stayed together.

It was obviously a tough day on the fells but the revised course seemed to go down well with the runners. Well done to everyone who made it to the finish.

Many thanks to the start and finish crew for great work over many hours. Also thanks to all the helpers and marshals out on the course for their patience, to landowners and DEFA for access.

The race crossed over the railway lines a couple of times so thanks to everyone at the MER for their help and cooperation and of course to everyone at Victory Café for their brilliant support.

Thanks also to race organiser Chris Kirk for his big input into the event and not forgetting everyone who placed all the course equipment pre-race and collected it all back in again after. Finally thanks to the McSevney family, Becky, Finbar and Stephen, for their support.

RICHIE STEVENSON

Results: 1, Oliver Chambers 3:52:52; 2, Orran Smith 3:53:09; 3, Nikki Arthur 4:25:38; 4, Gary Kelly 4:35:58; 5, Tom Williams 4:39:58; 6, Paul Jennings 4:44:47; 7, Graeme Hatcher 4:45:26; 8, Neil Brogan 4:48:13; 9, Amber Carridge 4:50:22; 10, Paul Sheard 4:51:21; 11, Andy Watson 4:51:52; 12, Jack Freeman 4:55:40; 13, Adam Fretwell 5:03:22; 14, Shaun Hubbard 5:08:59; 15, Katherine Cubbon 5:21:28; 16, Mark Turner 5:31:18; 17, Rosy Craine 5:32:37; 18, Paul Bratty 5:33:23; 19, Janette Gledhill 5:36:01; 20, Ross Deakin 5:40:28; 21, Stephen Kelly 5:43:06; 22, Domenico Galante 5:45:08; 23=, Caroline Caren 5:46:31; 23=, Chris Cale 5:46:31; 25, Robert Crichton 5:50:13; 26, Alan Sandford 5:52:18; 27, Kyle Brough 5:59:01; 28, Anthony Fergusson 6:02:28; 29, Julian Corlet 6:03:02; 30=, Rosie Ormsby 6:05:56; 30=, Michael Hayler 6:05:56; 32, Andrew Milnes 6:07:55; 33, Eugene Martin 6:12:29; 34, Rachel Kelsall 6:31:42; 35, John Hills 6:42:06; 36, Michael Lee 6:56:35; 37, Lee Alstead 7:26:20; 38= Chris Hogben; 38=, Jamie Corkill 7:40:47; 38=, Jane Rose 7:40:47; 38=, Lucy Connors 7:40:47 38=, Mark Anthony Hagan 7:40:47; 38, Paula Garland 7:40:47; 38=, Steve Willmot 7:40:47.