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.