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Since we sadly had to cancel the 2020 Festival we have been overwhelmed by the messages of support from far and wide. If we did not know it already, it is clear what the Festival means to so many people. It is certainly a lot more than “just another race”.
From our perspective as an organising team, what makes it all the more disappointing is that with quite a few more of the large teams still to enter, it looked like we were heading for a record entry this year. Hopefully missing out this year will whet everyone’s appetite in more ways than one to come back again in 2021.
Thank you to those who have offered for us to retain your entry fee. We are volunteers and do not run the event for a profit but recent years have given us a small excess which is our Rainy Day fund.
We are planning to send refunds by cheque but as myself and Dave Ronan who sign the cheques are in self-isolation this will take a little time to sort. As an alternative, anyone wanting to defer their entry to 2021 should e-mail easterfestival@manx.net by Friday 27th March at the latest.
2020 Easter Festival Cancelled
It is with huge disappointment that the organising committee of the IQEQ Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running announce the cancellation of the 2020 event.
In the light of the escalating coronavirus crisis, the Isle of Man Chief Minister Howard Quayle has today announced a raft of measures to be put in place on the island with immediate effect. These include a ban on all non-essential travel to and from the Island, and a requirement for everyone entering the Island from midnight tomorrow night to undertake a 14-day period of self-isolation. Everyone aged 70 or over is to self-isolate with immediate effect. These and other measures will apply indefinitely.
It is quite clear from these measures, and the likelihood of even further restrictions being put in place, that it will be impossible to hold the Festival this year even in a modified form. We have several much-valued and key helpers over the Festival weekend who are over 70 years of age, whom we would wish to protect even without the drastic measures that have been announced today.
We can confirm that all those who have entered the Festival to date, and there are 248, will receive a full refund. We will confirm how this is to be issued in the next few days.
This is a deeply disappointing day for everyone connected with the Easter Festival. We have never had a cancellation in the 58-year history of the event, but these are exceptional circumstances. We appreciate your great support for our event, and hope you will understand the reasons for this year’s cancellation. Our aim already is to put on a memorable event in 2021.
Chris Quine
Festival Director
Coronavirus update
Since the last update was posted on Friday morning the coronavirus crisis has escalated massively - although thankfully we have not yet had any positive cases on the Isle of Man. Naturally we have had several enquiries as to whether or not the Festival will go ahead in present circumstances.
Tomorrow, Tynwald (the Isle of Man Parliament) have an emergency sitting to discuss the ongoing situation and the effect on events, public gatherings, travel etc. Following this debate things should be clearer. We also continue to be in touch with Public Health.
We have lots of issues to consider, not least the fact that some of our key helpers over the Festival weekend are more than 70 years of age.
We want to make a decision as early as possible to allow all those who are planning to travel to the island time to change their plans in the event of cancellation. It might be advisable for those who have not yet entered to hold off from doing so until a decision has been made.
The organising team will meet as soon as we are all available – hopefully by Thursday this week. As soon as a decision has been made it will be posted here.
4 weeks to go!
With less than a month to go until the start of the 2020 Festival, the news everywhere continues to be dominated by Coronavirus and its effect on day-to-day life - not least on sporting events.
As things stand at the moment, the Festival is definitely still ON. We are being guided by Public Health and the Isle of Man Government, and we will take the best available advice on putting precautions in place during the event with regard to hygiene etc. We continue to plan for the event going ahead.
It's a difficult situation for everyone at the moment with things developing so rapidly, but we remain committed to putting the Festival on in the safest manner possible. Of course, individuals are free to make their own informed decisions whether to take part or not in the current circumstances. Watch this space as they say.
Advance entries are up to 197, with lots from Aberdeen this week - thank you to the Dons for your support for the Festival yet again! Many of the big university groups are still to enter and we are hoping to see many more locals too, so numbers are looking promising at the moment.
Please read the event rules which were published on the website this week – easterfestival.info/rules-2020/?fbclid=IwAR1q4C4FgZ283rvyHqga4m-_3HEZY9bzKt0b1jZcCeLwsgiHJaWOFK8wXzA.
The full prize fund will be published shortly. We can confirm now that the prizes for the first three individuals in each race will be the same as last year. In both the men’s and women’s races, prizes will be as follows:
10k – 1st £200, 2nd £100, 3rd £50
Peel Hill – 1st £150, 2nd £75, 3rd £50
5k – 1st £100, 2nd £50, 3rd £40
We will once again be offering a bonus £100 for any athlete who breaks a course record in any of the three races. The record must be broken, not equalled, and in the event of a dead heat the prize will be shared. The current records are:
10k Men – 30:16 (Jonny Mellor, 2007)
10k Women – 34:18 (Rosie Smith, 2012)
Peel Hill Men – 20:10 (James Walsh, 2007)
Peel Hill Women – 16:38 (Rachael Franklin, 2019)
5k Men – 14:36 (Jonny Mellor, 2007)
5k Women – 17:13 (Rosie Smith, 2012)
Four weeks to go means a look back four years to the 2016 Festival. Usually we are pretty lucky with the weather at Easter, but in 2016 it was cold and very windy which meant times were generally slower than usual despite the presence of some quality athletes. Entries were slightly up on the previous year, continuing the upward trend - a total of 528 athletes took part over the weekend.
The outstanding performance of the Festival came from Amelia Pettitt (Vale Royal AC), who had represented Great Britain at the World University Cross Country Championships in Italy two weeks earlier, finishing 17th. She won all three women's races, but her time of 35.26 in the opening 10k race really caught the eye. She won the race by more than two minutes, setting the second fastest women's time ever recorded on the course. Second was former Great Britain junior international Jen Walsh (Durham University) ahead of Hannah Brown (Manchester Alehouse).
Amelia also won the Peel Hill and 5k races by convincing margins to take the women's Festival title, confirming her as one of the best female athletes to have competed at the Festival. Hannah Brown took second place in each of those races to finish second overall. Third on Peel Hill was junior athlete Iona Gatenby (Glasgow University), and third in the 5k race was local Under 17 triathlete Becky Storrie (Manx Tri Club).
The men's Festival was more closely contested, with different winners in all three races. Phil Sesemann (Leeds Doss) repeated his 2015 win in the 10k, but it was really close as his teammate John Ashcroft finished just a stride behind, with Alex Milne (Cambridge Greyhounds) in third.
Junior athlete Oliver Fox (Cambridge Greyhounds) took a fine win on Peel Hill, 16 seconds clear of Ben Stevenson (Edinburgh Haries), with Andrew Ó'Donnghaile (Cambridge Greyhounds) third.
Onto Douglas Promenade for what was to be the last 4 x 5k relay before the men's event became a straight 5k race the following year. The fastest leg was run by Richard Powell (Leeds Doss) on the opening leg, with fellow Dosser John Ashcroft second fastest. Oliver Fox's third fastest leg was enough to confirm him as Men's Festival champion for 2016.
Loganair takes over Liverpool route from Thursday
Loganair takes over Liverpool route
www.iomtoday.co.im
Loganair will take over the Liverpool route formerly operated by Flybe, from Thursday this week.