Fun in the sun!

The Isle of Man athletics squad is spread far and wide at the moment. Di Shimell took a large party away to compete in the Wigan Open Meeting today, and I am looking forward to hearing some of the results later. A group of nine travelled to the Algarve yesterday for a week's warm-weather training, two are in Tenerife for the same reason, and likewise one is off to Majorca. A small minority are left in the Isle of Man and the UK!

One thing they are all enjoying this weekend is glorious warm sunshine. I can't remember such a beautifully warm sunny weekend on the Isle of Man in early April, and I am assured that it is even warmer in Albufeira and Tenerife! My last blog entry focussed partly on the Parish Walk, and there have been hordes of walkers out training for it this weekend - you see them on practically every road you drive along!

The nine who have travelled to Portugal are distance runners Andy Fox, Martin Malone, Ed Gumbley, Mike Garrett, Les Brown and Gail Griffiths, and throwers Richard Bell and Charlotte Christian together with Charlotte's coach. The runners have acclimatised by running 75 minutes yesterday and 2 hours this morning. They are also doing plenty of core stability work.

Middle distance runner Rachael Franklin and high jumper Reagan Dee are midway through two weeks in Tenerife, where they have been training with some top international athletes. Reagan has been training with European Indoor high jump champion Antonietta Di Martino of Italy, and Rachael with GB and Scotland 400m runner Lee McConnell. The opportunity to train with such high calibre athletes doesn't come along very often and it will be a great experience.

Hurdler and 400m runner Michael Haslett is off to Majorca for ten days tomorrow.


European Indoor high jump champion Antonietta Di Martino of Italy. (Photo http://en.wikipedia.org)

GB and Scotland 400m runner Lee McConnell, who has won many medals at World, European and Commonwealth level over the past ten years. (Photo http://en.wikipedia.org)

We're only two days away from the selection meeting now, and as I wrote in a recent entry, the panel are in for some tricky decisions and I don't envy them. I sat down a few days ago and tried to select my team of 25 (assuming 25 is the number of places available). About 20 of them were reasonably straightforward, but it was then that the problems started. I eventually came up with a list of 26 that I thought had to be selected - but unfortunately 26 into 25 doesn't go! There may be factors that I'm not aware of that will influence selection, but it's sure going to be a difficult job.

Over the next few weeks the blog will focus on the athletes who have been selected - and plenty more as the build-up really gathers pace.