Conditions were near-perfect for round one of this winter’s Western AC trail running league on Sunday morning.

Sponsored by Peel Fisheries Chippy over sections of the former steam heritage trail route between Peel and St John’s, the longest race, over a distance of 10 kilometres, includes two laps of the car park behind the Tynwald Hill Inn.

This was led throughout by Joel Smith of Manx Fell Runners, who crossed the finish line behind the kipper yards in Peel in a time of 35min 03sec.

He was 55s clear of Michael Garrett (IoM Veteran Athletes’ Club) with two more over-50s, Lloyd Taggart (MFR) and Geoff Rice (Western AC), filling the next two places in front of Cycling Isle of Man team rider Michael Faid fifth in his first run.

Jackie Lee of Eyri Harriers was the leading female in seventh place overall.

Athletics
Cyclists Michael Faid and 5km winner Bernat Munoz-Fite both prouced good runs in the first round of the Heritage Trail series (Photo: John Watterson) ( (Photo: John Watterson))

Youngster Bernat Munoz-Fite (King William’s College) won the out-and-back 5km race in 20m 51s, followed home by club committee member Jan Cooil and Marta Fite-Sanchez, with Evie Crook the last to dip under the half hour.

Leighton Curphey took eight seconds off the 2km course record set by Harry Stennett in 2020 with his time of 7m 19s, finishing more than half-a-minute clear of Odin Bignell, who was chased to the line by Devon Creedon and leading girl Emira Bowden.

The closest finish of the day came in the 1km race for seven and eight year olds where Jack Davison finished one solitary second ahead of Barney McGowan, with Lucas Poggio third. Louis Baxter and Beatrice Brook were joint fourth in 4m 37s.

Athletics
Barney McGowan (left) was caught and past by hard-chasing Jack Davison in the final few metres of the one kilometre race for six and seven-year-olds (Photo: John Watterson) ( (Photo: John Watterson))

The next round is on Sunday, November 24, with round three on December 15 and the final counter on Sunday, February 2.

Results, Heritage Trail League (round one), Sunday, Peel (Western AC), sponsored by Peel Fisheries chip shops:

5km: 1, Bernat Munoz-Fite (KWC) 20min 51sec; 2, Jan Cooil (WAC) 26.14; 3, Marta Fite-Sanchez (U/t) 27:24; 4, Evie Crook (WAC) 28:56; 5, Wendy Ross (U/t) 30:42; 6, Ray Shooter (IoMVAC) 31:28; 7, Hannah Kelly (U/t) 31:32; 8, John Cooil (U/t) 32:20; 9, Michelle Sherry (MFR) 33:32; 10, Maura Kelly (NAC) 34:27; 11, Carol Roy (Lonely Goat) 34:27; 12, Miriam Kelly (IoMVAC) 40:12. 

10km: 1, Joel Smith (MFR) 35min 03sec; 2, Michael Garrett (IoMVAC) 35:58; 3, Lloyd Taggart (MFR) 39:29; 4, Geoff Rice (WAC) 40:16; 5, Michael Faid (U/t) 40:55; 6, Peter Callin (WAC) 44:10; 7, Jackie Lee (Eyri Harriers) 44:21; 8, Daniel O'Connor (U/t) 46:54; 9, Michael Loundes (MH) 47:33; 10, David Parsons (U/t) 48:30; 11, Jamie Pope (WAC) 48:50; 12, James Quirk (WAC) 48:50; 13, David Fisher (MFR) 52:09; 14, Maggie Watkins (MFR) 54:43; 15, Denise Bridson (MFR) 59:42; 16, Rebecca Greatbach (MFR) 63:13; 17, Karen Gadsby (WAC) 68:12. 

1km (7-8yrs): 1, Jack Davison 4m 00s; 2, Barney McGowan 4:01; 3, Lucas Poggio 4:18; 4, Louis Baxter 4:37; 5, Beatrice Brook 4:37; 6, Norm Skelly-Martin 5:02; 7, Amelia Cain 5:04; 8, Willow Quirk 5:06; 9, Ben Christian 5:06; 10, Chloe Creedon 5:08; 11, Heather Cottier 5:11; 12, Elsie Bowden 5:12. 2km (9-12s): 1, Leighton Curphey 7:19; 2, James Fisher 7:52; 3, Odin Bignell 8:50; 4, Devon Creedon 8:52; 5, Emira Bowden 8:55; 6, Orry Nelson-Gale 9:04; 7, Xenia Munoz-Fite 9:06; 8, Aaron Fisher 9:16; 9, Oliver Hotchkiss 9:25; 10, Archie Smith 9:32; 11, Evelyn Stubbs 9:37; 12, Max Kelly 9.54.

Athletics
A group of youths in the combined 1km/2km start including (l-r) Louis Baxter, Emira Bowden, Oliver Hotchkiss, Devon Creedon and (No.26) Xenia Munoz-Fite (Photo: John Watterson) ( (Photo: John Watterson))