Its been a while....

OK, the last blog was over two months ago which isn't really ideal for compulsive reading.
There hasn't been a great deal to  report other than that the committee are working hard to pull this year's event together.
Although we started the organisation of this year's event in January, things tick over until after the Parish Walk is finished when plans and entries tend to speed up somewhat..
The Parish Walk is by far the Isle of Man's largest community oriented event where more or less everyone on the island is affected in some way whether competing (1543 in 2011, 1819 in 2012), supporting, marshalling and so on. It is a walking race in which competitors have a maximum of 24 hours to complete the 85 mile course through all 17 Parishes of the Isle of Man, passing each of the Parish churches en-route.
The whole island will be watching this event unfold on 23/24 June and it will be virtually 'live' on www.parishwalk.com and you can even follow numbers 1 to 21 (who will have transponders with them) live here.
Once this great race is over, people who perhaps tried it for the first time and enjoyed it, look for the next endurance challenge.
Which is where the End to End Walk comes into play.
Although less than half the distance of the Parish, it can be more of a challenge. This is due ( at least) to two things:

1. Speed is everything. The natural assumption that 'the shorter the distance, the faster I will go' is the mantra that most people will follow. Me included, unfortunately.  This mentality is true of all races especially 2, 3, 5, 10 and perhaps 20k.races. Shorter = faster. In endurance races, this shouldn't be part of any game plan. but it is easy to get carried away;
2. Anti- Parish. The E2E course from Bride to Rushen is essentially the reverse of the Parish route over the same roads. Some competitors who have done both races have stated that they feel the E2E is more of a physical and mental challenge.

You can make your own mind up!
More after the Parish.

New co-sponsor

The End 2 End walk committee is pleased to welcome Microgaming on board as a co-sponsor of our event. They join long standing main sponsor Ramsey Bakery and Royal London 360 who joined us in 2011.
Without the continued support of local businesses, event organising committees would find it increasingly difficult to stage quality events such as the End 2 End walk without having to either compromise the quality of the event itself or increasing the cost of the entry fee or perhaps both of these options.
We look forward to working with Microgaming this year and we hope their involvement will complement that of Ramsey Bakery and Royal London 360 to help us to improve the End 2 End walk experience.

Typos and other creatures

Regardless of proof reading it is inevitable that the odd typo will sneak through. A smidge annoying but there are worse things in life, I suppose.
I spotted one when checking over the End 2 End Walk web site and the details of the event, and in particular, team events.

This year for the first time, we are introducing a 'Corporate' team challenge. The concept is fairly straightforward in that each member of a team must work for the same company or work place. Hopefully that this will stimulate some 'inter-company' challenges between rival entities for example and perhaps even teams from within the same office competing against each other. This will add a new twist to the team entries which have proved popular in previous years.
There is no restriction with regard to previous finishers being part of a corporate teams - merely that the entire team must work for the same employer.
This last part is where the typo comes into play on the web site.  'Typo', is a bit of an understatement really; it's more of a gaffe verging on a c*ck-up!
The web site states that "Corporate teams must be teams of four non finishers". This was an idea we initially had when the corporate team category was first mooted but it was decided not to go down this road as it may have restricted the number of teams entered in this category.
So there you have it. Hardly the end of the world, however, it needed clarifying as we want to encourage team entries as the competitveness makes the race a whole lot more enjoyable for team members, especially as it is often not readily apparent who has won!
Happy training!

And......they're off

Entries for the End 2 End walk and the End to End mountain bike challenge opened at the same time at midnight on Tuesday. For seven or eight seconds, it was a tight run race, however, the E2E bike challenge has just edged slightly ahead with 1379 entries so far and they are on course for another record entry for 2012!

Now that the eating and drinking frenzy that is commonly called 'Christmas' is well and truly behind us and the daylight is starting to lengthen in the evenings, many people are encouraged to get out and about and to start their training in earnest.
If you haven't already, now is the time to get started.
Many of you will be focused on the Parish Walk, however, there are several shorter walks in the next couple of months to whet your appetite:

1. Sun 5th Feb - Winter walking league (1, 2, 5, 10K)  10:00 at the NSC perimeter roadway. Sign on from 09:30
2. Sat 3rd March - Manx Open meeting (1 Mile, 2, 5, 10, 20K) at the NSC perimeter roadway. Various start times (see web site)
3. Thu 15th Mar - Spring Handicap (5K)  at the NSC perimeter roadway. Veterans (over 35) only.
4. Sun 22nd Apr - Sara Killey Memorial Walk (31 miles/50K) Peel to Ramsey. Entry form here.

Everyone will be made very welcome at each of these events regardless of your abilities. They are organised by Manx Harriers (1 & 2), IoM Veteran Athletes' Club (3) and IoM Fire Service (4).
So....get training!

The day before tomorrow

Entries open tomorrow (actually at midnight tonight - Jan 31st) and I'm taking side bets on who will be the first this year!
Interest in this event grows year on year so the organising committee decided prior to the 2011 event to open the entries earlier in the year rather than the usual July date. The decision for this was that there was no real reason to wait until July other than that date was after the Parish. "Why not open entries much earlier?", we thought, and let the entries trickle in over the following months. It worked well last year so we have done the same again for 2012.
Traai di liooar (Manx for 'time enough') will inevitably kick in though as it tends to do and there'll be a last minute rush in 7½ months' time just before entries close!
I've got to thank Adrian Cowin who hosts and looks after the E2E Walk web site on our behalf. He has done a lot of work on updating the contents and layout for this year and has sorted out this blog to enable me to add updates.

Blog (n)

A blog (a shortened  term  for web log) is a personal journal published on the internet consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order so the most recent post appears first.
Isn't Wikipedia marvellous? Who knew?
It's all new to me but, with the 2012 End 2 End blog, I intend to attempt to keep you abreast of the latest entries, event news and updates.
Entries will open on Wednesday 1^st February and we're hoping for yet another record entry before entries close on September 9^th.
You therefore have more or less 7½ months to get your entry in! However, you will be aware of how time flies when you are planning any seemingly distant event. Before you know it, its just around the corner.
Therefore, if you are thinking of entering this year, enter as soon as....!
You have been warned, prompted, encouraged, cajoled (delete as applicable).
Not long 'till entries open....

Almost sorted out.

Nearly ready! Entries for the Ramsey Bakery End to End Walk 2012 open on February 1st. This entry done on my behalf by Ady Cowin.