I don't know who's going to win the races this year, but I think I can say with some degree of confidence that my better half Gail will be amongst the fittest competitors in the meeting after some of her recent running performances.

Over the past week she has recorded times of 11.28 for 3000 metres and 19.51 for 5000 metres (a time which ranks her in the top 100 in the UK), and this morning she recorded a quite amazing 93.34 in her very first attempt at a Half Marathon. She also recorded 42.20 for 10000 metres earlier in the summer, a time she should be able to take a fair chunk out of next time she races over that distance. These performances give her every chance of being selected for the Isle of Man's Athletics Team in next year's Island Games to be held in Rhodes.

Not bad for someone who only started doing a bit of jogging to keep fit for the bike racing about 3 years ago, and who only really started training seriously a few months ago! (Can any MGP competitors beat any of the above times, by the way?)