It used to be great, standing up at Keppel Gate and hearing the maroon go bang way back in Douglas to tell us that the flag had dropped to start the race. This was in the days when few of us had radios and it was well before people like me can sit with lap tops in a pub garden and hear the pre-race and race commentaries and follow the racing.

Yes Folks, there used to be a time when we stood at certain vantage points on the course, heard the maroon go bang and then it would be a while before the bikes came round.

Then, in the sixties we could hear the MVs and Hondas start off, right up at the Creg ! Then came the wonders of portable radios and some course loudspeakers. Modern times had arrived ! Yet the Boy Scouts still run round the scoreboards with bits of paper !

I wish they would set off maroons this year to commemorate the 100 years of the Mountain Course. This is what's called nostalgia and should include occasions that should not be forgotten.. I still would like to see a Dunlop Clock Tower this year, again to help us remember the past. We are hoping to re-create an early morning practice but we need a steamy Tea Tent to make it more realistic.

What else would you like to see again ? A Weigh In ? A shop making IOM Rock ? There is so much we could do to commemorate 100 years.