8 sports review ofthe year 2007 - Isle of Man Today

2 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007G E O R D I E A C E S : Goals fromKristov Novac and RoryDearden gave St George’sa 2-1 win over Corinthiansin the Zurich-sponsoredUnder-13 Trophy footballfinal.MIKE PROUDFOOT MP070126I N T H E A I R J O R D A N : Rushen skipper Jordan Watterson holdsaloft the U15 B League trophyMW070128-33E A R L Y B A T H : Onchan postman Phil ‘Nipper’ Cain (below) had his first bath of the year in the fell race at St John’s on January 1N E W Y E A R ’ S D A Y S P L A S H :Paul Sheard won theopening round of theRentokil-sponsored ManxFell League at St John’s onNew Year’s DayJM07010-112JM070101/151-154TOUGHING IT OUT: Steve Colley in action in the ToughOne event in ShropshireG O I N G . . . G O I N G . . . G O I N G . . . . . . G O N E !FORMER England international athletePaul Sheard won the first local sportingevent of 2007 when he sprinted tovictory in the Supercards-sponsored StJohn’s Fell Race on New Year’s Day.Sheard held off 2006 champion SimonSkillicorn, with Douglas postman IanGale third. Rose Hooton was theleading female and the first veteranover 50 Phil Cain.A VERY muddy and wet Witton Park,Blackburn saw Manx Harriers athletesbag eight medals in the LancashireCross-Country Championships.Theparty of 34 athletes and officialsreturned with two gold, five silverand one bronze medal. In addition,eight athletes received Lancashire callupletters.RUSHEN United centre-forward KyleLunn scored all the goals as thesouthern side cruised to a 4-0 successover neighbours Colby in the ZurichsponsoredUnder-15 B League Cupfinal at Peel.THE Island’s two best known homegrown off-road motorcycle stars scoreda double whammy in the Tough One atthe huge Nantmawr Quarry complexnear Oswestry in Shropshire.SteveColley won the newly introduced ToughOne Trial and David Knight took thehonours in the Tough One Enduro withsimilar domination in what was his firstevent for more than two months.THE senior Island football team gottheir preparations for the Uefa RegionsCup back on track with a highlyimpressive victory over Unibond leagueopponents Skelmersdale United.They recovered from a single-goaldeficit at the interval to produce anexcellent second-half performance andstun their more experienced hosts withthree well-taken goals.COMMONWEALTH Games highjumper Martin Aram made a successfulstart to his indoor season with a braceof wins at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow,including a clearance of 2.10 metres.A couple of weeks later he smashedthe Manx indoor record for the shot-putby a margin of more than one and ahalf metres at the North of Englandindoor track and field championships inSheffield with a throw of13.32m.THE inaugural Isle of Man ACUQuadbike Centre Championship serieswas won by Jamie Corkish ofBallaoates.Ballabeg farmer Kev Coolefinished runner-up from Ellerslie'sPentti Christian.PETER Kaneen won the delayed 2005Peel to Douglas Walk by a margin ofvery nearly 10 minutes to claim his fifthsuccess in the Empire Garagessponsoredevent. Marie Jackson wonthe women’s event for the third time,while her eldest daughter EmmaLatham finished an impressive secondin her course debut.JONNY Bellis helped a youthful GreatBritain squad to an impressive fourthplace in the team pursuit event at theUCI World Cup track cycling meeting inLos Angeles.MARK Cavendish worked the field overto dominate the Scratch Race in theRevolution 16 meeting at ManchesterVelodrome.SIMON Skillicorn clinched victory fromPaul Sheard on the final descent in theKen Watterson-sponsored Greeba FellRace, round two of the 2007 RentokilManx Fell League.MANX handball player Michael Hegartycelebrated his call-up to the GreatBritain side with a goal in his debutmatch against Australia.A BRILLIANT first-half hat-trick fromChris Thomas saw Valkyrs A cruisepast Bloxwich in the second round ofthe EHA Vase at Oxton Hockey Club,Merseyside.The Manx side finished up4-0 winners thanks to a Thomas hattrickand a cool reverse stick hit fromGareth Morris.ONCHAN resident Dougie Lampkinachieved his first podium finish of the2007 World Indoor Trials series with afighting third place at round three inMarseille.

SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 3S T A G E S T R U C K : John McGuinness and Dave Molyneux, two of the all-timeTT greats, sit centre stage, surrounded by fellow winners, established starsand newcomers at the Villa MarinaSTEPHEN DAVISONR I C H A R D T H E F I R S T : A maiden win for rising localrally star Richard Curphey and co-driver AndrewHolmesMW070203-47B R O N Z E M E D A L : Jonny Bellis with the bronze medalhe won with 100% ME team at the UCI World Cuptrack meeting at the Manchester VelodromeANDY WHITEHOUSE andy@amwphoto.wanadoo.co.ukF I G H T I N G F I T : FormerWorld SuperbikeChampion NeilHodgson finished sixthin the NatWest IslandGames mountain biketeam selection race atCringle PlantationJW070218-12H E Y B E R T ! : EcstaticRushen Unitedplayers hoist keeperElizabeth ‘Bert’Stanley aloft afterthe stopper’sstarring role in theFloodlit Cup finalpenalty shoot-outMIKE WADE 070207/171C A P T A I N M A R V E L : St Mary’scaptain Richard Foden holdsthe U15 Challenge Cup aloftMP070204-2C R O S S -C O U N T R Y A C T I O N : (l-r) Darren Gray, Gianni Epifani, RussellCollister, race winner John Halligan, Chris Quine, Allan Thomson, GarryRoss, Edward Gumbley, Paul Lewthwaite and Tom Richmond in theopening few metres of the Manx Gas Cross Challenge event atPulroseMW070211-27F L Y E R T U C K : Wessex Centrecompetitors Jon Tuck and Matt Sparkesemerged as the new boys to beat onthe British Sidecar Trials ChampionshipsceneJW070203-65MARK Higgins took maximum pointson the opening round of the IrishTarmac Championship when finishingthird overall in the Galway InternationalRally.The Manxman then endured adisappointing start to his ProductionWorld Rally Championship campaignon the Uddeholm Rally of Swedenwhen Higgins, with new co-driver ScottMartin, was forced to retire in theirMitsubishi Evo IX.RUSHEN United keeper ElizabethStanley was the hero as she first drilleda spot-kick past her opposite numberin a penalty shoot-out then pulled offthe save that won her side theWomen’s Floodlit Cup at theNSC.SUPERB conditions graced the BritishSidecar Trials Championship eventhosted by the Peveril MCC when WestCountry men Jon Tuck and MattSparkes pulled off an excellent ride tomake the first bow waves in the series.Locals Adrian Beale and Jane Birchallwon the Masters class.MARK Cavendish finished inchesbehind Crédit Agricole’s Angelo Furlanin the opening 148km stage of theEtoile de Besseges stage race inFrance.IN true Alf Tupper tough of the trackcomic strip fashion, John Halliganhelped mark out the course for thelatest round of the Manx Gas CrossChallenge series then ran home for alunch of fish and chips, returning toPulrose to win the senior men’s race.Gail Griffiths won the women's racefrom Island Cross-Country ChampionSarah Nelson.ISLAND Development Squad memberAshleigh Keown, 13, won no fewerthan five medals in the final round ofthe Badminton England Under-15Bronze Junior Badminton TournamentCircuit in Warwick.JOSH Green helped England to thesilver medal in the Eight Nationsbadminton tournament at Brest inFrance where he beat the SwedishNo1 to become the only member of theEngland squad to reach the quarterfinals.Healso reached the quarterfinalsin the doubles, partnered by PhilAspinal of Lancashire.SUPERBIKE ace Neil Hodgsonnarrowly lost out on a top-five place inthe mountain bike cross-country eventat Cringle Plantation, but there was nodenying the class of Elliot Baxter, themultiple Island Games gold medallist,who was quite simply in a league of hisown.PETER Kaneen set a British veteran’srecord for 10km with a winning time of45min 44sec in the final round of theFriends Provident International winterwalking league at the National SportsCentre.ROBIN Crease retained his ManxTelecom-sponsored Island under-17squash title at Onchan Squash Clubwith victory over JonathanPooley.JONNY Bellis won his first UCI WorldCup track medal when representing theGB Olympic Development Programmesquad at Manchester Velodrome,claiming bronze in the team pursuitride-off against Spain.DARK Peak’s Lloyd Taggart returned tothe Island in style to win the IanRonan-sponsored Bradda Fell Race.The Manxman smashed the courserecord by almost two minutes while hispartner, Jackie Lee, took the women’sprize in a superb 12th place.JAMES Toseland and Italian ace MaxBiaggi powered to a win and secondplace apiece at Losail, Qatar in theopening round of the World SuperbikeChampionship.A DRAMATIC penalty shoot-out saw StMary's claim the Zurich-sponsoredUnder-15 A League Cup at the NSC.With the scores deadlocked at 1-1 afterfull and extra-time it was Saints'Connor Gelling who converted thedecisive kick to make it a memorableafternoon for Paul Moffatt'sside.ZOË Gillings claimed a silver medal ata snowboard meeting in Chamonix,France.Because of the lack of snow,snowboardcross races in Europe werefew and far between in 2007, meaningthe event attracted a large and highqualityentry.GISELLE Whitlam-Riley played astarring role as the IoM nationalswimming side returned from theannual Liverpool Open Distance Meetwith a haul of 10 gold, 17 silver and 13bronze medals.THE Isle of Man national football sidegave another signal of intent ahead oftheir clash with San Marino and theUefa Regions Cup tournament with anexcellent 1-1 draw against UnibondLeague outfit Cammell Laird inBirkenhead.HOVE based Manxman AndrewBargery made the best possible startto the Hankook Tyres MSA GravelRally Championship when co-drivingMarcus Dodd to a record fifth win onthe Bournemouth-based RallyeSunseeker event.SISTERS Sarah and Gemma Astin putin some creditable displays whilerepresenting Lancashire in the Inter-Counties Cross-CountryChampionships at Nottingham. Sarahwas crowned under-13 UK ChallengeCross-Country champion, with oldersister Gemma sixth in the u15category.

4 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007T R O Y D E S T R O Y E R : Ramseyresident James Toseland leadsTroy Bayliss and fellow AussieTroy Corser in the first of twoWorld Superbike races at PhillipIsland, VictoriaC H A M P I O N S : Julie Gore and GaryRobson parade their silverware at theIsle of Man Darts Festival JM070311-91O F F L I K E A G U N N : (Right) Stillriding in his 2006 Murphy andGunn colours, Andrew Rocheremains the man to beat in localtime trialsJOHN WATTERSON 070304-326C U P G L O R Y : Old Boys skipperSteven Clarke hoists the WoodsCup aloftMP070318-53G E T I N T H E R E : Island strikerCalum Morrissey celebrates hisgoal against San Marino incustomary stylePinnacle Photo Agencywww.ppauk.comG A I L ’ S D A Y :Gail Griffithsleads rivalSarah Nelson inthe women’srace of thesixth and finalround of theManx GasCrossChallengeMP070318-9A L L S A I N T S : The triumphant St Ninian’s team display the Green Finalteam handicap badminton trophyJW070326-96C H A M P I O N S : Ramsey Rugby Union Clubskipper Matt Livesey lifts the ShimminWilson Manx Shield trophy JM070310-94JOSHUA Green became the secondManx-born badminton competitor (afterDonald Jones in 1954) to secure asingles title at national level when hewon the under-15 England BadmintonChampionship.DESPITE suffering with a hand injury,David Knight managed to get his USGNCC campaign off to a flying startwith runner-up spot behind AustralianShane Watts in the opening round atVero Beach, Florida.MARK Higgins had what was arguablyhis best drive to finish 10th overall inthe Corona Rally Mexico and claim hisfirst overall World Rally Productionclass victory.RAMSEY RUFC were crownedShimmin Wilson Manx Shieldchampions when they beat Douglas B13-8 at a windy Mooragh Parkpitch.MANX Harriers added to their growingoff-Island reputation with furtherindividual and team success at theEnglish National Cross-CountryChampionships in Sunderland. SarahAstin was eighth overall (first North ofEngland athlete) in the under-13 girls’race while her sister Gemma was 28thin the u15s.Keith Gerrard finished 19thin the senior men's.ROB Watson secured a hat-trick ofsuccessive victories in the two-dayJaks Bar/Porsche Centre ChesterStages Rally, but was pushed right tothe limit by George Collister in theMitsubishi Evo III.IRISHMAN Colin Griffin produced atruly world-class performance to winthe 30km walk in the HSBC SecuritiesServices-sponsored open athleticsmeeting promoted by Manx Harriers atthe NSC.Impressive 5km splits gavehim a superb finishing time of 2hr13min 16sec to finish 20 minutuesclear of Ilford’s Scott Davis.NIGEL Armstrong limbered up for theLondon Marathon by winning theLeinster Management Ltd-sponsoredOpen 20-mile road race over 40 laps ofthe NSC.Mark Clague ousted MikeGarett for second place.NORTHUMBERLAND’S Gary Robsonwas crowned the Manx king of dartsafter toppling world championshiprunner-up Phil Nixon 3-1 in a thrillingfinale to the IoM Festival of Darts atthe Villa Marina. World champion TrinaGulliver lost 2-3 in the women'stournament to newcomer Julie Gorefrom Wales.SANTON-BASED Alex Lloyd got hisIndy Pro campaign off to the bestpossible start with victory in theopening race of the 2007 season inMiami, Florida. Lloyd took the honoursin the Miami 100 event at theHomestead-Miami Speedway despitethe race distance being reduced by 10laps because of a serious accidentinvolving five cars.He secured a purseof $32,500 in prize money.ALEX Rockwell bounced back frominjury to take the overall honours in theYouth class of the Maxxis BritishMotocross Championship event atLandrake.DAVID Higgins and Martin Rowedominated the opening round ofChina's National Rally Championship,the Shanghai Rally.Higgins and codriverIeuan Thomas won the eventwith early leaders Rowe and Australianco-driver Dale Moscatt fourth.ST John's proved they are best in thewest, beating Peel 3-1 to claim the RegLunt Under-15 Shield at the Bowl.PETER Kaneen and Marie Jacksonclaimed the 2007 HSBC Manx 10kmrace walking titles over 12 laps of theNational Sports Centre perimeterroadway.ST Ninian’s Badminton Club scored aLeague One and Green Final handicapknockout double.A CALUM Morrissey goal sevenminutes from time helped the Isle ofMan national side conclude theirpreparations for the Uefa Regions Cupwith their first victory in Englandcolours against San Marino.The Manxside were denied a clear-cut penaltyfour minutes from the interval whenJulian Ringham was brought down inthe box, but the real turning point in thegame occurred 15 minutes into thesecond half when the San Marinokeeper Daniel Ceccoli was sent off foraiming a kick at strikerMorrissey.OLD Boys showed flashes of realquality to overcome the spiritedresistance of Michael United and liftthe G. H. Corlett Woods Cup at theBowl. Had it not been for somewayward finishing, Old Boys’ margin ofvictory could have been greater than3-1.INTERNATIONAL swordsman RobinDavenport of Andreas finished runnerupin the over-40s class of the NationalVeterans epée championship.EMERGING tennis ace Billy Harrishelped a team comprising GreatBritain's best under-12 players defeatSweden in a friendly international atthe National Tennis Centre,Roehampton.NEIL, David and Sara Pearson allqualified to represent England for thethird year running in the Karateand Kickboxing WorldChampionships.COSMOS clinched the Manx Short MatBowls Fours League title with a hardfought7-6 victory over rivalsBlockbusters.THE Isle of Man competed at the sixthEuropean Team Bowls Championships.

SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 5L E A D I N G B Y E X A M P L E : Douglas Royal skipper KymHicklin hoists the Women's FA Cup aloft for the secondsuccessive year MIKE WADE 070415-38G O L D E N G I R L S : Thompson Travel’s GA Kath Kermode putsup a shot, marked closely by C&S defenders GD LouiseDuncan and GK Michelle Porter — Pippa Cross GS looks on.C&S eventually won the Manx Netball Association's cup finalon the golden goal ruleMP070429/3R U N N I N G M A N : Lloyd Taggart showedhis rivals a clean pair of heels in theManx Mountain MarathonMIKE WADE 070704-41S U E -P E R W O M A N : Parish Walk starSue Biggart scooped the Isle ofMan Bank-sponsored Sportswomanof the Year awardMIKE WADE 070412-168T H E E C S T A S Y A N D T H E A G O N Y : Calum Morrissey cursing his luck ashe misses a good chance to blast in another during its Uefa RegionsCup campaignPHIL MINGO PINNACLE PHOTOSA R M C H A I R R I D E : Some rugby fans took up a unique vantage point to watch theDorchester Atlantic Marine Manx Cup final between Vagabonds and Douglas. Vagas wonthe encounter at Mooragh Park 26-11FABULOUS weather, good fields andcompetitive action were the hallmarksof the 45th Easter Athletics Festival.The event also witnessed a changingof the old order, with 20-year-oldJohnny Mellor (Liverpool Harriers) and17-year-old Heather Timmins(Warrington AC) taking the overallhonours.EXILED Manxman Lloyd Taggartnotched up a record-breaking victory inthe Manx Mountain Marathon, whileCastletown's Tom Cringle claimed thehonours in the half-distance supportevent.MARK Cavendish beat some of thebiggest names in the sport to win theoldest cycle race in Belgium. Showingincredible speed he overhauled topTour de France riders Erik Zabel andRobbie McEwen in a frantic bunchsprint to grab the 100th running of theScheldeprijs Vlaanderen in Antwerpand register his first professional winfor the T-Mobile team.MARK Higgins claimed victory in theUAC Easter International Rally inNorthern Ireland with co-driver RoryKennedy, beating the Irish pairing ofEugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely by 37seconds.DOUGLAS Royal retained theWomen’s FA Cup with acomprehensive 3-0 victory overperennial rivals Rushen United at theBowl.BACCHAS secured the men’s andwomen's division one hockey titles,while G4S Valkyrs B secured women’sdivision two.RAMSEY resident James Toselandscored a win and a fifth in the WorldSuperbike round at Valencia in Spainto enjoy a 13-point lead in thestandings.Andrew Pitt marked hisreturn to racing with a second placefinish in the World Supersport race.DAVID Knight claimed his first win ofthe US Grand National Cross-CountrySeries series in South Carolina.QUEEN'S B produced the performanceof the season to lift the Douglas andDistrict Champion of Champions poolcompetition.A TRULY remarkable year for Manxsport was celebrated when the annualSports Awards, sponsored by Isle ofMan Bank, were held in the VillaMarina’s Royal Hall. CommonwealthGames gold medal-winning cyclistMark Cavendish crowned a memorableseason by collecting the prestigiousSportsman of the Year trophy and thehotly contested Ambassador sectionwas won by World Enduro ChampionDavid Knight. Sue Biggart wasrewarded for outstanding performancesin the Clerical Medical Parish Walk and100-mile Walk with the Sportswomanprize. Geoffrey Corlett’s dedication tosport earned him the LifetimeAchievement award, while the Island’sfootballers scooped the team honour toacknowledge their success in theNational League System Cup.Other major winners were OliviaRawlinson (Under-21 Sportswoman ofthe Year), Peter Kennaugh (U21Sportsman), Mike Doyle (Coach), IanHarrop (Club Official) andJohn Stephens (Disability).THE Isle of Man's Uefa Regions Cupcampaign ended in disappointment asthe side slipped to a brace of defeatsat the hands of Slovakianrepresentatives Bratislava and EasternRegion of Northern Ireland. The dreamwas over, but they later went on toscore an impressive 3-2 win overCzech representatives Hradec Královeon their own turf.THE sixth IoM Open TennisTournament saw number one seedBruce Wagstaff beat James Buxton ina competitive men's singles final, whilethe women’s singles title went to KatieTinkler who beat Lucy Hamilton-Turner.THE Isle of Man’s handball sideclinched third place in the seconddivision of the national league withvictory over Liverpool.THE Isle of Man finished a creditable27th out of 41 in the BadmintonEngland Under-17 County Tournamentin Nottingham.PETER Kaneen got the best out ofhimself to claim a silver medal in theNational 20km Race WalkingChampionships over a testing coursearound the Warwick University campusin Coventry.LOCAL rugby player Glyn Hoosen-Owen made sporting history onWednesday, April 25 when he becamethe first Manxman to play in a rugbyfinal at Twickenham.LAUREN Whelan and Sinead Kaneenclaimed national titles in the under-15and u13 age groups of the NationalRoad Walking Championships at DonValley Stadium in Sheffield, whileSinead and Alexandra Ross took theu13 team award.VAGABONDS Rugby Club regainedthe Dorchester Atlantic Marine ManxCup with a tense 26-11 victory overholders and old rivals Douglas atMooragh Park.THREE silver medals and a bronzewere won by the nine members of theBowderyn Vannin Field Archery Club atthe Scottish Championships.PINARELLO RT cyclist Andy Rochefinished third in the Archer GP andthird in Shay Elliott Memorial road racein Ireland. Roche also netted fifthposition in the Tour of the Reservoir inDurham.

6 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 7A L L W H I T E N O W : BrettArmitage, skipper of JuniorCup winners Corinthians,holds the trophy aloft afterhis side’s 1-0 win over AyreUnited MIKE WADE 070511-59M A K I N G A S P L A S H : K e n n y M c K in s t r ya n d N o e l O r r w o n t h e R B SI n t e r n a t io n a l-s p o n s o r e d M a n x R a lly f o ra r e c o r d f if t h t im ew w w . m a n x p h o t o s o n lin e . c o mO F F S H O R E W I N D S : Three yachts inclose proximity off the Point of Ayre inthe early stages of the Round theIsland Yacht Race, Phantom,Eauvation and Ossian MP070506-375 0 Y E A R S A P A R T : (Below)2007 Peel to Douglas roadrace winner John Halliganand 1957 winner Joe CainJM070506-186C U P J O Y : (Above) Old Boys celebrate winning the Cu-Plas 15-17Division One Cup title with young manager Tommy Millar (right) aftera 2-1 victory over St George’s at the BowlC O R K E -R : Rising golf star Jonathan Corke won theprestigious WIll Kirkpatrick Cup at Douglas Golf Clubwith rounds of 68 and 68 for 136. Corke finishedone shot ahead of Island champion Paul LoweyH O T S H O T S : Car Shop Cup winners Marown Colts (l-r) Billy Riggall,Bradley Martin, Owen Dudley, Ben Stephenson, Sam Gelling (capt)and Fraser Grant with team mascot Lucas Martin MP070520/17RECORD BREAKER: Alex Lloyd celebrates with his teamafter victory in the Freedom 100 race at the world-famousIndianapolis Motor SpeedwayC H A M P I O N S : Dhoon Schoolcelebrate a successful day at the2007 Millennium football eventC H A M P I O N S : St George’s players andofficials celebrate clinching the OSADivision One championship — their thirdin four years JM 070509/160L I V I N G T H E D R E A M : A jubilant Cav celebrates his first Pro Tourwin for team T-Mobile in CataloniaPHOTO: COURTESY OF T-MOBILET R I P L E C R O W N : Old Boys celebrate completing a Division Twotreble after adding the Paul Henry Gold Cup to the G. H. CorlettWoods Cup and the league titleMIKE PROUDFOOT 070527-131D O U B L E W I N : Bacchas A celebrate winning the Young & AssociatesWomen’s Cup. Victory over Vikings A completed a league and cup doublefor the WhitesMW070519-35PEEL won the Manx FA Cup for arecord 30th time following a dramaticpenalty shoot-out win over St Mary's atthe Bowl. The scores were deadlockedat 1-1 following 120 minutes of play,but a couple of heroic penalty savesfrom Peel's faithful keeper KelvinDawson won the day.THE shortest Peel to Douglas RoadRun in history was won by IslandGames steeplechaser John Halliganfrom triathlete Andy Cannell. The pairmatched strides for most of the 10-miledistance before Halligan edged clear inthe closing stages to win by a marginof 12 seconds. Rhodes-boundtriathlete Eve O’Hare ran an excellentrace to take the women’s honours in atime of 67.17.CORINTHIANS spoilt Ayre’s United’s40th birthday party when they beatthem 1-0 at the Bowl to lift the JCKJunior Cup.ULSTERMEN Kenny McKinstry andNoel Orr scored a record fifth win inthe RBS International Manx Rally witha comfortable victory in their SubaruImpreza WRC. The eventual runnersupwere Roger Duckworth and MarkBroomfield, with Marcus Dodd andManx-born co-driver Andrew Bargerythird in their Hyundai Accent WRC.George Collister and Janet Crainewere the leading all-Manx crew in 12thplace overall, followed closely by MarkCubbon and Jonathon Turnbull in13th.DHOON School cleaned up at theannual Millennium Primary SchoolFootball competition that took place atthe NSC and the Bowl in Douglas,winning both the tournament and thesmall schools award.A FIRST-half Carl Barks header wasenough for Laxey football team toretain the Okells Hospital Cup and endPeel's hopes of securing a memorablecup treble.BACCHAS A added the Men’s HockeyCup to their earlier league successwith victory over rivals G4S Valkyrs Aat the National Sports Centre.TheMen’s Plate went to Roosters.Therewas another league and cup double forBacchas A in the women’s competition,while G4S Valkyrs A came out on topin the western derby with their C sideto win the Plate competition.PAUL Hunt was in scintillating form atJurby South in the Andreas RacingAssociation’s pre-TT road meeting.The 45-year-old firefighter fromBraddan won both of the big bike raceson his ex-Virgin Mobile Yamaha R1while Nick Crowe and Dan Saylelooked impressive in their first outingon closed roads aboard a new LCRHonda outfit.OLD Boys became only the secondteam in Manx footballing history tocomplete a Division Two trophy treblewhen they defeated Corinthians 2-0 inthe Paul Henry Gold Cup final. Thatcompleted the full set after theBlackberry Lane club also scooped thetitle and Woods Cup.ALEX Lloyd continued his recordbreakingstart to the IndyPro serieswith victory in the Freedom 100 race atthe world-famous Indianapolis MotorSpeedway.Lloyd’s fourth win a row isthe best sequence recorded at thestart of a campaign in the series’history.HARRY Creevy represented GreatBritain in the Europa Cup rifle shootingcompetition in the Czech Republic,finishing a magnificent seventh with ascore of 591 only three points behindwinner Stefan Ahlesved of Sweden.This is Creevy’s best result to daterepresenting Britain on theinternational 300-metre riflecircuit.PEEL Sailing and Cruising Club'sannual regatta took place in briskconditions.The cruiser race was wonby Peter Magee in his Dufour Safari,Maggie May, while the overall dinghywinner was Andrew Williams in anRS400.MANX rider Anna Higgins followed upsuccess at the British Show PonySociety Championship show in Newarkby qualifying with her working hunterpony Pebbly Honeypot for the famousRoyal International Horse Show atHickstead. This is an amazing feat for anovice pony and rider.THE Women's Division One footballcampaign came to an end withMalew being crownedchampions.A FIELD of 14 gathered for the two-day200 Target DTL Grand Prix sponsoredby Bricktech Builders at Meary Veg.Peter Kelly shot a straight in the finalround to claim the overall title.DOUGLAS man Marc Corlett realiseda long-held ambition to win RamseyAngling Club’s annual fishingfestival.PETER Kennaugh won two stagesoutright and scored a second and athird on the others to take the overallhonours in the fourth annual Isle ofMan Youth Tour, sponsored bySleepwell Hotels.Fellow Team Isle of Man riderChristopher Whorrall narrowly missedout on the honours in the Youth Aclass, while Matthew Bostock of GlenVine showed great potential by winningthe Youth D/E class, riding for TeamScottish Provident IoM.PETER Kaneen took the overallhonours in the HSBC SecuritiesServices-sponsored IoM 20km roadwalking championships atAndreas.EIGHTEEN visiting crews started andall 18 completed the 52nd Round theIsland Yacht Race, organised by theManx Sailing and Cruising Club overthe Bank Holiday weekend. Firstover the line was bJasus (StrangfordLough YC) closely followed byDinamite-Tee (Liverpool YC) in 9 hours40 minutes.THE Island’s under-12 badmintonteam, sponsored by Cu-Plas Callow,claimed a bronze at the Yorkshire u12team tournament.MANX ABC light heavyweight boxerLee Ashton became the EastLancashire, Cumbria and Isle of Mangolden belt champion when he outpointedMacclesfield fighter IanBarton in Manchester.MANX athletes were in exceptionalform at the Lancashire CountyChampionships in Blackpool’s StanleyPark Arena, returning home with nofewer than 12 gold, 12 silver and 11bronze medals.SIMON Skillicorn bagged his thirdcourse record on the Manx hills with anemphatic victory in the Buchanan andPitts-sponsored Carraghan FellRace.FOURTEEN-year-old Matthew Alberswon gold in spectacular style at theLeon Paul Epée under-15 fencingcompetition.MARK Cavendish’s spectacular start tohis pro career continued with victory instage two of the Tour of Catalonia.Having celebrated his 22nd birthdaythe previous day, he chalked up his firstPro Tour win in a sprint finish whenedging out Australia’s Aaron Kemps(Astana) and Columbia’s LeonardoDuque (Cofidis).HAVING weathered the winter out inNew Zealand, Ramsey’s Andy Cannellwas on majestic form in the PeelTriathlon when he overhauled teenagerNiall Shimmin on the final leg of thesprint distance event. Eve O’Hare wonthe women’s event for the fourth time.DEFENDING champion and Rhodesboundathlete Kevin Loundes was inexcellent form in the Mann Link TravelsponsoredNorthern 10 road race,retaining the title with anew personal best clocking of57 minutes 05 seconds.Victory in the women's class went to25-year-old Sarah Nelson who clocked73.21, some 72 seconds ahead ofWendy Ross.LOCAL residents Chris Palmer andRich Hawkins scored a win apiece inthe Blackford Financial ServicessponsoredPre-TT classic meeting atBillown.IN A closely fought Brian McKinleyUnder-15 cup final, extra-time and spotkicks were required to split Laxey andSt John's.It was the Miners who werethe more decisive when it reallymattered, Sam Treanor striking homethe decisive spot-kick to spark jubilantscenes among the Laxey camp at theBowl.DOUGLAS man Lee Watsoncompleted the 22nd Marathon DesSables, which is titled the ToughestRace in the World, in south Morrocco.KEITH Gerrard finished fourth in the10,000 metre event at the BritishUniversity track and fieldchampionships.

8 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 9B E A C H B O Y S : Kev Coole onhis way to victory in the quadclass of the Peel beachcrossMW070607/218L E A P O F F A I T H : Mark Higgins and Irish co-driver Rory Kennedy get some air time during theShell Donegal International Rally. After a blistering start the Subaru Impreza duo had a 37-second advantage over world champions Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena until a brokendamper curbed the Manx driver’s pace, handing Loeb the winPHOTO: JOHN BAYLR A E O F S U N S H I N E : Mike Rae is congratulatedby caddie Denis Kneen after sealing his firstIsland golf title with a superb putt on the the36th green at DouglasRICHARD PARSLOWS T A R T A N D F I N I S H : (Above) Robbie Callister (2) strides it out with many of the fancied starters in the CMI ParishWalk, but 85 miles later he was well out on his own as he crossed the finishing line on Douglas promenade JM/JWC H A M P I O N :Bowls Festivalwinner TommyJohnstoneparades thecupPHOTO:ARNIE WITHERSROBBIE Callister dominated the ClericalMedical Parish Walk for 63 of the 85 miles toclaim his fifth win in seven years.Close rival and event record holder Sean Hands retiredat Ballakillowey on the lower part of the Sloc, to whichpoint he and Callister had been leading the race jointlyfor most of the early miles.At the end of an event that saw all four seasons ofweather in one day, Callister crossed the line in 15 hours36 minutes 47 seconds, 49m 11s down on last year'srecord and 20m 44s down on his own previous best.Ray Pitts, 55, produced the walk of his life to not onlyget under 16 hours for the first time but also claim his bestoverall result in second place, after being third (or jointthird) on no fewer than four occasions. Michael Georgewas third.Sue Biggart was the first woman home in seventh placeoverall. Her time of 16:49.46 was 26min down on hertremendous effort 12 months earlier.R I S I N G S T A R :Billy Harrisclaimed hisfirst senior titleat AlbanyB I G C A T : Honda Formula 4-Stroke Powerboat competitors David Hobson and Kirsty Clark in their APPMermaid, with Superseacat Two about to dock in the background MIKE WADE 070616/50THE Honda Formula 4-StrokePowerboat Series made its third trip tothe Island, with two classes of theBritish championship series taking tothe water in an action-packed weekendof racing in Douglas Bay.TWELVE-year-old Billy Harris stunnedthe Manx tennis fraternity with asensational win over Island seniorchampion James Buxton in the final ofthe Albany Chrystals Senior Open atAlbany Lawn Tennis Club.Ranked sixfor his age in Britain, few expected himto overcome the strength andexperience of his Island Games-boundopponent.A DAY after his inclusion in T-Mobile'slong list for a Tour de France startingplace, Mark Cavendish once againshowed flying form and top-end speedto win the final stage of the SterElektrotoer stage race in a bunchsprint.MIKE Rae clinched the Isle of Man golfchampionship for the first time after anenthralling final against Brian Dugganat Douglas. As he reflected on his titlesuccess, an emotional Rae looked tothe heavens and declared: ‘That one’sfor you, Dad’ as he dedicated hisvictory to the memory of his late fatherCyril. Chris Kneen of Castletown hadcelebrated his 18th birthday in stylewhen posting rounds of 67 and 66 totop the list of qualifiers on the openingday of the event.THE Island junior swimming squadreturned with two gold, three silver andthree bronze medals and seven Islandjunior records from the ASA SwimNorth West Championships atManchester’s Aquatic Centre.ST Oswald's Tommy Johnstone put ona superb display of 35-metre bowling todefeat Roy Price of Stoke in the men'sfinal of the June Bowls Festival in frontof a crowd of 200.Marown’s Colin Kelly reached thesemi-finals, while South Ramsey’sElaine Moore made the semi-finalstage of the women's event.ANDY Glaister and Chris Boyde scoredtheir maiden stage rally victory on theTrade Distribution Forest Rally atConrhenny Plantation.DAVID Norman defeated RichardCorlett in straight sets to win the IoMSquash Rackets Association OpenChampionship, sponsored by TridentTrust, at Onchan Squash Club.JAMES Buxton and Karen Faragherclaimed a hat-trick of titles each in theHSBC Senior Island TennisChampionships at Ballaughton.KEVIN Moore produced the bestindividual score in the EEU NorthernCounties Men's Championship atGanton Golf Club in Yorkshire.His firstround of 70 was three under par.TheIsland team finished with a combinedscore of 970 to place them seventhoverall, 12 behind Durham.REIGNING Rentokil Manx Fell Leaguechampion Simon Skillicorn proved hisworth at the Glen Mona Horseshoewith a superb display of tactical fellrunning.MANX drivers scored a one-two finishon the second round of the China RallyChampionship, the Huairou Rally,based near Beijing. TQ-sponsoredDavid Higgins and co-driver IeuanThomas won from Onchan-raisedMartin Rowe and Australian co-driverDale Moscatt in second.WESTERN AC's Louise Kneen wonthe Northern Counties AthleticsChampionship shot-put title atWavertree in Liverpool with a newpersonal best distance of 12.04metres, beating her previous best bynearly half a metre.It beat CherylDone’s Manx record of 11.92.MARK Higgins extended his GlobalGroup Irish Tarmac Championship leadafter enjoying a huge battle withreigning World Rally ChampionSebastien Loeb on the Shell DonegalInternational. Driving a Pirelli SubaruWRC, Higgins dominated the openingleg, sweeping to a convincing 37-second advantage over Loeb, who wasdriving his works Citroen C4 WRC.DAVID Knight produced the biggestwinning margin in the history of theCan-Am GNCC race series when hewon round seven by almost 10 minutesat the Snowshoe mountain resort indeepest West Virginia.MANX shooter Tim Kneale won theGreat Britain double trap selectionshoot at Nuthampstead ShootingGround in North Hertfordshire.WEST Indian cricketing legend SirGarry Sobers visited the Island tospeak at Castletown Cricket Club’sdinner at the Nunnery. Fellow WestIndian cricketers Franklyn Stephensonand Michael Haynes were also presentat the Montpelier Group-sponsoredevening.STEVE Taylor won the annual SteveJacobs Mile at the National SportsCentre.H O O T S M O N : Byron Mercerwalks in his kilt JMA N D R E A S : Mark Hempsall marches withpurpose as the field gradually thins out JWT H IR S T P L A C E : Children distribute water to walkers at Ballakillowey JMW A T E R P R O O F : Barry Cowinkeeps the early evening rain offT A K I N G S H A D E : Castle Rushen High School staff take a well-earned breather JMtbc

SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 9S T A R T A N D F I N I S H : (Above) Robbie Callister (2) strides it out with many of the fancied starters in the CMI ParishWalk, but 85 miles later he was well out on his own as he crossed the finishing line on Douglas promenade JM/JWROBBIE Callister dominated the ClericalMedical Parish Walk for 63 of the 85 miles toclaim his fifth win in seven years.Close rival and event record holder Sean Hands retiredat Ballakillowey on the lower part of the Sloc, to whichpoint he and Callister had been leading the race jointlyfor most of the early miles.At the end of an event that saw all four seasons ofweather in one day, Callister crossed the line in 15 hours36 minutes 47 seconds, 49m 11s down on last year'srecord and 20m 44s down on his own previous best.Ray Pitts, 55, produced the walk of his life to not onlyget under 16 hours for the first time but also claim his bestoverall result in second place, after being third (or jointthird) on no fewer than four occasions. Michael Georgewas third.Sue Biggart was the first woman home in seventh placeoverall. Her time of 16:49.46 was 26min down on hertremendous effort 12 months earlier.H O O T S M O N : Byron Mercerwalks in his kilt JMT H IR S T P L A C E : Children distribute water to walkers at Ballakillowey JMW A T E R P R O O F : Barry Cowinkeeps the early evening rain offA N D R E A S : Mark Hempsall marches withpurpose as the field gradually thins out JWT A K I N G S H A D E : Castle Rushen High School staff take a well-earned breather JM

M V P O W E R : John Surtees setting off on his parade lap aboard the MV-4 MIKE WADEH I G H F L I E R S : Nick Crowe and Dan Sayle were on record-breaking form in the sidecars, but their luck ran out inboth races when leading. Crowe is fighting to recover from a broken leg suffered in a moped accident on holidayG E O F F ’ S S W A N S O N G : Geoff Cannell was in his element at the Centenary TT interviewingstars past and present, including Australian World Superbike ace Troy CorserH O T H U T C H : One of themost spectacularimages of theCentenary TT was thissuperb shot ofSupersport 600 winnerIan Hutchinson crestingthe rise before Kate’sCottagePHOTO: CIARAN BROADT O N P L U S 3 0 : John McGuinness was the star of theshow, putting the icing on the 100th anniversary cakewith a new outright lap record of 130mph in theSenior. Also pictured is Ian Hutchinson (right) MIKE WADEN O R I: Factory YamahaWorld Superbike riderNoriyuki Haga enjoyedhis first visit to the Isleof Man and took part inthe Parade ofChampions at the endof the week. He has noambitions to ride the TTMIKE WADEK I N G O F T H E S T O C K S : Bruce Anstey (above and below) celebrated his fourth straight Superstock win for SuzukiMIKE WADEA G O : Italian Giacomo Agostini is just as popular with the fans now as he ever wasTHE much-heralded Centenary TT waswell worth the wait. It attracted thebiggest crowds since the halcyon days ofthe event back in the 1950s and 1960s,rekindling some of the atmosphere that hadbeen waning over the last decade or so.Problems with Steam Packet schedules andindifferent weather threatened to derail theevent before it started, but once the fortnightgot into its stride it soon became one toremember.The Peel Bay Festival was a muchappreciatedadd-on, with headline acts suchas The Who, Madness, The Stranglers, McFlyand Sugababes.In total 25,000 peopleattended the week-long music festival, albeitmostly locals.Figures approaching 60,000 visited theIsland for the TT itself, with 'House Full' signsup on hotels and boarding houses long beforea wheel turned in anger.Racing was generally very good, withsuperbike doubles for John McGuinness andsidecar ace Dave Molyneux, each taking histally of TT wins to 13 (Molyneux accompaniedby Rick Long who became the most prolificpassenger in the history of the TT). Suzuki's'Mr Superstock', Bruce Anstey, scored the onlynon-Honda success of the week as IanHutchinson chalked up his first TT victory inthe Supersport 600 on another of the HMPlant-sponsored Hondas.The high and low points of the week camewithin the space of one hour in the closingstages of the festival.John McGuinness became the first rider tolap the Snaefell Mountain Course at morethan 130mph on lap two of the Senior, while amore chilling landmark was reached when thefirst spectators in the history of the TT or MGPdied from injuries suffered after a machineridden by newcomer Marc Ramsbothamcareered off the course at the 26th milestoneon what was his fifth lap.The rider was also fatally injured.The implications of that crash will have aprofound effect on road racing in general formany years to come.S T A R G U E S T : Murray Walker, the voice ofmotorsport, was a very popular and respectedguest for the Centenary TT MIKE WADEG O L D E N O L D I E S : (Left to right) Kel Carruthers, Murray Walker, Jim Redman,Stuart Graham and Frank PerrisMIKE WADEF O G G Y : Four-times World Superbike champion CarlFogarty returned to his roots on the Mountain Course MWT O P L O C A L : Conor Cummins rode magnificently in his second TT JOHN WATTERSONN U M E R O U N O : Dave Molyneux brought his tally of wins to 13, while passenger Rick Long notched his eighth

14 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 15V I C I O U S A T T A C K : Tempers boiled over when Menorca’s Diego Escudero(pictured below following Elliot Baxter) threw his bike at Isle of Mancycling team manager Gary Hinds (left), injuring his head. Hindsconfronted the Spaniard who had been cutting out parts of the mountainbike course in an attempt to keep pace with Baxter. The latter man wonthe race, but initially boycotted the awards ceremony in protest at theMenorcan’s behaviour. The presentations were ultimately postponed andrestaged 48 hours later. Escudero was stripped of his silver medalE C S T A T I C : Archer Charlotte George after winning the bronze medal inthe women’s individual recurve archery competition PHOTO: PAUL CRAINEO N T A R G E T : Isle of Man shooters are always the backbone to the teamand they again came away with a large haul of medals in all competitionsN E W A N D O L D : The cycle criterium was held on the outskirts of Rhodestown close to the ancient amphitheatre used for the opening ceremonyB R O N Z E M E D A L L I S T S : The 4x50m relay swimming team of (l-r)Rachel Ganley, Kate Bielich, Heather Millar and Olivia RawlinsonA N C I E N T S E T T I N G : The Isle of Man team parading into the Greekamphitheatre for the spectacular opening ceremonyB R O N Z E A G E : Helen Pooley, 18, won a bronzemedal in the women’s table tennis eventK I N G O F T H E T R A C K : John Halligan took a silver medal in themen’s 10,000m and a magnificent gold in the steeplechaseRHODES GAMES PHOTOGRAPHSBY JOHN WATTERSONB R A S A N D B I B S : The IoM women’s football team had to play amatch in bras and bibs because of a kit clash with Aland A KELSOF I R S T G O L D : Emma Dooley had thedistinction of winning the Isle of Man’sfirst gold medal of the Games in thewomen’s judo competitionS C E N I C R O U T E : The half-marathonroute took in the harbour and townareas of the capital. Gail Griffiths wasone of two Manx women in the eventJ U N I O R S T A R : Grant Halsall, 13, smashed the junior Isle of Man record on his way tofifth place in the 200m backstroke. He is pictured in the 4x50m individual medleyTHE Rhodes Games wereextreme. Extremely hot andextremely disorganised.For better or for worse, the XIIbiennial NatWest Island Games willbe remembered more for itsspectacularly beautiful weather andsome completely bizarre incidentsthan specific individual performances.The accommodation at the EspiredesBeach Hotel close to Faliraki wassecond to none, but the facilities atmany of the venues left a lot to bedesired.The swimming pool was in a simplyidyllic setting on the fringes of thecapital's ancient walled town, but it isfair to say the aquatic events would nothave taken place without the hard workand intervention of the Isle of ManSwimming Association officials whopitched in to make ready an outdoor25-metre venue that had lain dormant(as a swimming facility) for many years—to the point that many locals wereunaware of its existence.The pool had distorted in the bakingtemperatures but the fact that it hadactually stretched by up to 8cm inplaces did not faze one of the Faroesecompetitors who smashed the Gamesrecord for 1,500 metres even thoughhe had swum an estimated 30ft fartherover the full 60 lengths.Other facilities were hurriedlycompleted in the final hours leading upto what was a long, drawn-out openingceremony in a wonderful Romanamphitheatre on the outskirts ofRhodes Town.Navigating around the Greek island,without the assistance of directionsigns for most of the venues, becamea frustrating treasure hunt, while initialattempts to transmit reports back homefrom the popular holiday resort provedequally difficult for the stressed outpress corps without the necessaryISDN and other links in the earlystages.The men's cycling road race,traditionally one of the most gruellingevents of the week, entered into farcewhen a group of leading riders wereled off course by one of the policeoutriders.Ahefty crash resulted in ahalf-hatched restart and total confusionamong the ranks.A result was finally declared, as theriders crossed the line in rapidly fadinglight among bewildered holidaymakersin the main street of a south-east coastresort. By that time many of thecompetitors had lost the will to ride.Twenty-four hours later violence hitthe friendly games for the first time inits history when a Menorcan riderpicked up his bike and threw it at theIsle of Man cycling team managerGary Hinds.The Spaniard had been repeatedlycutting the course in the forest-basedmountain bike cross-country event andwhen confronted by Hinds (who stoodin his way on the modified route) therider lost the plot big style.Mercifully, Hinds was not seriouslyinjured in the incident, but it could havebeen a very different story.It was one of the major talking pointsof the week and left a nasty taste ineveryone's mouth, especially asMenorca was making its debut in theGames.The same evening, the Isle of Manwomen's football team were asked toplay in T-shirts and bibs or bras in onematch as their colours clashed with theopposition's.It all prompted a classic back pageheadline in the following day's editionof the Manx Independent —RHODESRAGE, Bras, bibs, bikes and brawls asGames descend into farce.The week culminated with aspectacular triathlon on the westernside of the island's northernmostpeninsula and a hastily shortenedclosing ceremony.It was a joyous end to what had inmany ways been a tempestuous week(12 days for some), which is a greattravesty as the 200 or so competitorsrepresenting the Isle of Man hadperformed with great enthusiasm,dedication and skill.The Isle of Man won a total of 56medals —11 gold, 16 silver and 29bronze medals.A L L A T S E A : The sailing events were confined to the north-westcoastline close to Rhodes Town, opposite mainland TurkeyI N D O O R S : The Isle of Man women’s basketball team with coaches Graham Bassett andAnnie WatkinsH O T W O R K : Kevin Moore led the IoM golfteam to a silver medal in the men’s event

16 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007MARK Cavendish became the firstManxman to take part in the Tour deFrance, but his dream turned todespair when he collided with a spectatorand crashed in the final 25 kilometres ofthe opening 203km road stage fromLondon to Canterbury.He suffered cuts to his arms and legs butwent on to finish the stage.The next day the Tour resumed in Dunkirkand there was more bad luck for Cav as hewas brought down by a rider who crashedright in front of him 2km from the finish linein Ghent.But he battled on to get a ninth place onstage three and a 10th place on stage four.He carried on until the race hit the bigmountains and had his first taste of theserious climbs in the Alps.T-Mobile team manager Bob Stapletonhad never intended for Cavendish to reachParis and he dropped out of the race onstage eight.His Tour debut was all about gainingexperience for future years and he foundout just how hard the race is.'I've never, ever dug that deep in my life,'he said, commenting on his first taste ofbig mountain stages in the Tour.'My heart was beating, bump, bump,bump in the side of my head and it washurting, really hurting.'I was kind of blacking out, it wasn'texactly going dark but it was like I wasseeing everything through blurred vision,like looking through dirty glass.'The Tour is about the hardest thing anyhuman being can do by choice.It iscompletely on another level.'It was a kind of racing I had neverexperienced before.It's something very,very special.'Even if I never come back to the Touragain, I will never, ever forget it.'G A T E W A Y G A M E S : Isle of Man Special Olympics teammanager Graham Davies runs alongside David Kelly ofTynwald during the Gateway Games at the NSCPHOTO: JOHN MADDRELL 070715-299M A N X C H A M P I O N : Women’s Crown Green Bowlingchampion Clare Cooper from Noble’s Mixed won the titlewith a 21-8 victory over Jayne KneenP L A Y E R O F T H E Y E A R : Paul Jones collects the BurrellRosebowl from Manx FA president Tony Jones MP07071-59T O P -T W O : Rally Isle of Man winners Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely were the first competitors to try out the newlookCastletown stage, with Castle Rushen providing a spectacular backdrop. JOHN WATTERSON 070719-1H O M E R U N : (inset) Rob Watson and Bruce Craig leap the railway bridge at Lhergydhoo in their 1985 Novamark@writtlephotographic.co.ukTHE Jones family celebrated a uniquedouble at the IoM FootballAssociation’s awards night. GarethJones clinched the referee of the yearaccolade for the third successive year,while son Paul secured the FA’s playerof the year award for his sterlingdisplays in the middle of the park forboth Rushen and the Island nationalside.EUGENE Donnelly and Paul Kielysecured back-to-back victories In theTotal-supported 2007 Rally Isle of Manover three days and 22 special stagesin their Reid Transport Subaru ImprezaWRC. Father and son Noel and JamesKelly were the highest placed Manxfinishers in a creditable 14th placeoverall. Rob Watson and Bruce Craigclaimed the honours in the StarServices Trophy Rally, the VauxhallNova sweeping to victory by a marginof 56.4 seconds over fellow localsGeorge Collister and Janet Craine.MANX Road Club members JonnyBellis and Peter Kennaugh bagged fivemedals between them at the Under-23and Junior European TrackChampionships in Germany. Bellis wonthe U23 Men’s Scratch Race, the sameday that Kennaugh took the individualsilver in the Junior event, while the pairlinked up to form one-half of Britain'swinning quartet in the U23 TeamPursuit Race.Kennaugh, 18, alsoclaimed a gold in the Junior TeamPursuit.CATH Preston sealed her secondIsland women's golf championshipcrown at Castletown Golf Links.The Island squad player was inscintillating form from the outset of the36-hole final, giving Island Gamesteam-mate Christina Skelly littlechance of mounting a sustainedchallenge. Emma Harris, 11, set theearly pace in qualifying with a firstround score of 82, but Glover came inwith a gross score of 161 to topthe standings over 36 holes.ST John’s retained the Tinker Cupwhen they beat Ramsey by just 13runs in a sensational finish at Mullen-e-Cloie. With two overs to go, thenortherners needed 16 runs for victorywith five wickets left. They then lostthose five wickets in five balls —thelast three falling to an Ewald Kilianhat-trick.IN an all-Division Two clash leagueleaders Port Erin pulled out all thestops to comfortably beat theirsouthern neighbours Port St Mary C atCastletown in the final of the RonWilliams-sponsored Rayner Platebowling competition.CROSBY'S Danny Kniveton took sixvotes to jointly take the Player of TheTournament award with three othercricketers at the conclusion of theEuropean Under-19 Division TwoChampionships in Jersey. The Isle ofMan team came third out of the ninecountries taking part and won the fairplay award known as The Spirit ofCricket.GRANT Halsall was in outstandingform at the ASA National Age GroupChampionships in Sheffield. The Manxswimmer excelled in the 200 metresbackstroke to smash the British recordfor 13-year-old boys and claim hissecond gold medal of the prestigiousmeeting.PORT ST Mary-based IoM Yacht Clubhosted the 2007 IoM Sportsboat andCruiser Championship.John Knightwon the 1720 class in Kick’em Jenny,while the Eauvation team won thecruiser class.ONCHAN won the CG FinancialServices-sponsored Rayner Shieldcrown green bowling competition for a14th time in wet conditions at the VillaMarina green, defeating close rivalsMarown.

SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 17B A R K I N G T H E O R D E R S : Isle of Man skipper and wicketkeeper Ricky Kniveton looks for arun out against Guernsey in the European Under-19 Division Two Championship in JerseyPHOTO: JERSEY EVENING POSTG O L D G E T T E R S : (Above) Manxmen Jonny Bellis (left) andPeter Kennaugh (third from left) with their GB team-matesBen Swift and Steven Burke on their way to winning theEuropean Under-23 Team Pursuit at CottbusPHOTO: LARRY HICKMOTTH U R D L E R H A S L E T T : (Below) Döhle award winner MichaelHaslett leads Western AC’s Sam Ingham over the hurdlesJM070729-9S O U T H E R N C O M F O R T : Ian Lougher won his fourthSouthern 100 championship in six years at a dampBillown Course, leading home Guy Martin JWS T U N N I N G V I E W : Castletown Bay provides the backdrop as Island women’s golf championCaps Preston chips on to the greenJM070722-51MANX sporting history was madewhen the Island’s Gaelic football teamtook to the field for their firstLancashire GAA County League fixtureon home soil. Ellan Vannin Gaels madeit a day to remember by scoring anarrow 1-11 1-10 victory over OisinsGAA from Manchester.HAVING picked himself up off thetarmac twice earlier in the week, Welshveteran Ian Lougher claimed a fourthSouthern 100 solo championship titlein six years when he rode his StobartHonda to a clear victory over GuyMartin in damp conditions at Billown.Manxmen Nick Crowe and Dan Saylescored a sidecar double and cameclose to becoming the first threewheelersto lap the 4.25-mile course atan average of more than 100mph.PAUL Hunt, 45, smashed his ownoutright lap record on his way tochalking up a hat-trick of wins at JurbySouth. Nick Crowe and Dan Saylemade it four wins in as many dayswhen they added a brace of sidecarvictories to two at Billown earlier in theweek.FRESH from a bronze medal winningindividual performance in the RhodesGames, Graeme Hatcher secured theIsle of Man 50-mile Time TrialChampionship, recording a swift 1hr52min 59sec to finish more than fourminutes clear of his nearest rival.TEAM Isle of Man rider Scott Flynnwon the final stage of the M. DonnellyJunior Tour in Ireland.MIKE Garrett successfully defendedhis IoM 10K Road RunningChampionship over the Great SouthRun course.FOR the fourth time in six years Isle ofMan bowlers swept aside the opposing11 county teams to win the JuniorLadies County Championship atBirkenhead Park.AN Inter-Island gymnastics competitiontook place at the Manx GymnasticsCentre of Excellence where the Manxboys’ team of Colin Furner, JamieStott, Anand Patel and CharlieMarshall scored highest on both piecesto take the gold from Jersey. The men’steam were pressed hard by a verystrong team from the Faroe Islands,but Alex and Adam Hedges, Joe Smithand Daniel Everest came through witha victory by a single mark with Jerseythird.SIMON Skillicorn won the NorthBarrule fell race by almost two minutes,but failed to better Steve Partington’s18-year-old record of 33min 39sec.CYCLIST Christopher Whorrallgrabbed a fifth and a sixth in the roadand circuit race elements of theEuropean Youth Olympics in Belgrade.ALEX Rockwell, Jamie and DanielMcCanney all scored overall class winsat the British Youth MotocrossChampionship meeting in Scotland.THE Manx Tri Club line-up of JuanKinley, Paul Cubbon and Paul Swindalefinished first, second and third in theMen's 40-49 age category of theSalford Triathlon.BALLAGAREY'S Peter Kaneenclaimed a bronze medal when heplaced third in the AAA 5km racewalking championship at Sports City,Manchester.DANIELLE Ross and Michael Haslettwon the Döhle awards for the mostpromising young athletes of 2007 atthe Isle of Man Track and FieldChampionships.

18 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007RYAN MIGHTY: TT aceRyan Farquhar returned tohis roots to win the SeniorClassic Manx Grand Prix atrecord speed on a twincylinderItalian-built Paton.(Inset right) Sure-fire star ofthe future Olie Linsdellscored two wins in hisMountain Course debut JWTHE 2007 Manx Grand Prix was extremelychallenging for the organisers with changeableweather interrupting practice week andultimately causing the cancellation of the blue ribbonSenior race for the first time in the event's history.A new star was born as Olie Linsdell rode tovictory in the Newcomers C class by a staggering13 minutes, snatching further glory in the Ultra-Lightweight race on the same 400 Yamaha four dayslater.Ryan Farquhar smashed Bob Heath's longstandinglap record when he rode to a memorablevictory in the Senior Classic, while Roy Richardsonand Scotland's Ewan Hamilton won the 350 and250cc classes.The Junior 600 race saw another unforgettableduel as Sweden's Mats Nilsson and the Irish duo ofShane Connor and Derek Brien put on an aweinspiringand crowd-pleasing dice.With two laps anda pit stop under the leaders’ belts the victory wasstill up for grabs, but Connor suffered a hugeaccident on the approach to Alpine Cottage leavingBrien the clear winner from Nilsson.Low-lying fog and mist on the Mountain causedlong delays to the final day's programme, but whilethe Lightweight 250 (won by Joey Dunlop's nephewSam) and the Ultra-Lightweight eventually wentahead the Senior had to be held over until theSaturday when conditions deteriorated further.The fact that many of the regular marshals werecommitted to returning home on the Saturdaymorning meant that the chief marshal could notguarantee cover for the rescheduled race and theorganisers made the reluctant decison to cancel themeeting's premier event.C U P J O Y : Geoff Gelling of Isle of Man Bank presents the Blincoe Cup to Loaghtyn Ramscaptain Simon BeardE A R L Y M I L E S : Conditions were mixed in the initial stages of the SalClear IoMMarathon, but the sun soon came out to dry the roads and warm things up JW070812-04C A P T A I N M A R V E L : St Mary’s Frank Jones lifts the CowellCup at the BowlMP070808-15V I C T O R Y S A L U T E : (Above right) Half marathon winner Gail Griffiths JW-346RAMSEY resident James Toselandscored the first double of his WorldSuperbike career in front of his homecrowd at Brands Hatch.STOCKPORT'S Colin Gell(pronounced Jell) won the SalClearsponsoredIsle of Man Marathon by aclear margin of 10min 14sec from JohnTyler of Romford, with Les Hill ofDumfries completing the podiumpositions a further 44s down. Thewinner of the Isle of ManChampionship was Mark Clague ofDouglas in a surprise fourth placeoverall. Mother of three Karen Lawrieof Ramsey won the IoM women'schampionship title in 47th place (fourthwoman overall). Tim Crossland, aMajor in the British Army's LogisticsCorps, and Gail Griffiths of Foxdalewon the half marathon titles.SEAN Quaye started his new tenure asSt George’s captain by scoring thedecisive spot-kick as his side beat Peelon penalties to lift the Eric FletcherMemorial Charity Shield.CASTLETOWN won the StandardBank League in unusual circumstancesafter the crunch match with St John’swas rained off, leaving both sides with44 points.The Town had a better netrun rate and so took the title.JUST days before the start of the newfootball season the old one came to aclose as St Mary’s claimed the 2006-07 Cowell Cup at the Bowl.CONOR Cummins produced twobrilliant rides to claim a brace ofsecond places in a rain-hit UlsterGrand Prix. The 21-year-old Ramseyace beat John McGuinness in bothraces, the latter man havingestablished a new outright lap recordfor the 7.3-mile course of 131.717mphin the Dundrod 150 superbike event 48hours earlier.WHEELCHAIR archer Rusty Kneale-Barrow won a bronze medal in theEuropean Invitational Archery GrandPrix with a personal best score of 610.PETER Kennaugh became the thirdManx cyclist to win the British JuniorRoad Race title when he sprinted to aconvincing victory in a wet and windyrace in Shropshire. Three days laterKennaugh picked up a gold medal atthe British Junior Track Championshipswhen he won the individual pursuit atthe Newport Velodrome in Wales.Healso took a bronze medal in the juniorscratch race. Island competitors NigelDean won the title in 1965 and SteveJoughin in 1977.PORT St Mary A claimed the IsmayCup for the first time in 18 years afterthey defeated North Ramsey A in thefinal.RUSSELL and June Collister won theIsle of Man Dinghy Championshiphosted by the Peel Sailing and CruisingClub.

SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 19N A T I O N A L T R E A S U R E : Peter Kennaughraises his arms in triumph as he crossesthe line to win the Junior National RoadRace title in ShropshireANDY WHITEHOUSEO N T H E U P : Ed Gumbley (left) and NigelArmstrong ran much of the Foxdale 6together, but ultimately Island Games halfmarathonman Gumbley gained theadvantage over the Douglas dentistPHOTO: DAVE KNEENwww.manxphotosonline.comC L A S S A C T : Steve Colley finished third in the Manx Two Day Trial, but he is still agreat performerJW070826-66F A I R W I N D : The Isle of Man Dinghy Racing Championship provided an interesting spectacle off Peel JOHN MADDRELL 070826-14E Q U A L I S E R : St George’s substitute Stuart Bell-Scott lashes home a Chris Feeneycorner to square things up at 2-2 and send the Charity Shield to penaltiesPHOTO: MIKE PROUDFOOT 070811-11DAVID Higgins and co-driver IeuanThomas continued their dominance ofthe China Rally Championship withtheir fourth win out of four in theMitsubishi Evo IX.GUBAY bursary recipient JamieMcCanney scorched to five great winsin the third round of the Elite Youth CupMotocross championship at Mildenhall,Suffolk.THE Queen Elizabeth II High Schoolcricket team were crowned ManxTelecom Business League Championsafter a resounding nine-wicket win overCronkbourne Bacchanalians in thetournament final at Tromode.LAUREN Whelan made a winningreturn to the City of Sheffield Stadiumwhere she claimed a gold medal in theunder-15 age group 3,000 metre walkat the AAA Track and FieldChampionships.THE 2007 Okells Ales-sponsoredScratch League was won by Douglas.ENGLAND badminton internationalJoshua Green earned a gold in the UKSchool Games.MANX Harriers' race walker LaurenWhelan recorded another impressiveperformance in the Northern Inter-Counties meet, winning the under-152.5km race in a time of 13min 07sec.MAN of the moment Peter Kennaughbecame the third Manx rider to win theJunior National Road Race Serieswhich was formerly named in honour ofthe Island's 1960s cycling hero PeterBuckley.LOAGHTYN Rams, the Island’s newestcricket club, won the Blincoe Cup final.They dismissed St John's B for 74 andthen hit 159 for two to claim a big firstinnings lead of 85 leaving their rivalsneeding a massive 194 for victory intheir second innings.They battedsteadily, but the target was too much.GRAHAM Jarvis limbered up for theTrial des Nations with a comfortablevictory in the Manx National Two-DayTrial. Pushed hard by 11 times winnerSteve Colley in the early stages, Jarvisrode superbly on day two to add justfive marks to his overnight tally of twoand win by a comfortable margin of 14from Dan Thorpe, with Colley slippingto third — his worst result on the eventfor more than 15 years. Robin and GillMorewood won the sidecar class forthe seventh time in eight years with aneight mark victory over close rivalsRobin Luscombe and Les Ashby.ISLAND racing star Alex Lloyd cappeda dream year by securing his firstIndyPro Series title – after winning hisrecord eighth race of the season at theInfineon Raceway in California. Lloyd,22, flew the Manx flag as he notchedup a 0.8927 of a second victory in theCarneros 10 at Sonoma.THE Isle of Man Squash Association ALeague team competition drew to aclose with the Cains Advocatessponsoredteam winning the league forthe third year in succession.

20 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007ROBBIEDAZZLER:Robbie Callisterwon the End toEnd Walk for thesixth time insuccession witha course recordbreakingperformance JMS M A R T A L E X : AlexKinvig produced asplendid ride in the Endto End mountain bikechallenge to finish fifthoverall and second bestlocal behind Paul KneenMIKE WADED E M O N D O U G : (Above)Manx resident DougieLampkin led Britain tothird place in the Trial desNations on his homepatch in Onchan JWH A I R Y S T U F F : Conor Cummins fires his R1 Yamaha past a line of spectators at the final Irish road race meeting ofthe season at KillalaneSTEPHEN DAVISONT H A T ’ S M Y B O Y : Gavin Hunt kept the Isle of Man No1 plate in the family when he became the youngest winner ofthe Isle of Man Centre road race championship title at 21. His father Paul has won it four times JWP I S T O L P E T E : (Left) Topscorer Pete Richards inaction for Cronkbournewho overcame Ramsey atTromode in the StandardBank League Cup finalMIKE WADE 070909-123THE Island under-15 cricket team wonthe bronze medal in division two of theEuropean Championships in Spain. Aseries of fine performances includedwins over France and Germany.GREAT bowling from Cronkbourneseamer Neil Holmes destroyedRamsey in the final of the StandardBank League Cup.CONOR Cummins wrapped up hisIrish road racing series in style with afull house of wins at Killalane and ashare in a new lap record.AN increased number of entrantsenjoyed Mediterranean-like weather inthe September Bowls Festival. Visitingplayers Paul Bailey and Joyce Joneswere the main competition winners.DAVE Molyneux and Dan Saylefinished sixth in the final round of theWorld Sidecar Championship at LeMans.VISITING riders dominated the End toEnd mountain bike challenge with MarkThwaites retaining his title in a finishingtime of 2hr 59min 28sec, more than 12minutes clear of his brother Scott. Theleading locals were Paul Kneen andAlex Kinvig in fourth and fifth places.MARIE Jackson took an individualsilver and a team gold for Great Britainin the World Masters AthleticsChampionships in Italy.LaurenWhelan, 14, won her age group of theEnglish Schools Race WalkingChampionship in Exeter.GAVIN Hunt wrapped up the solo roadrace championship title at a rain-hitJurby Airfield, adding the 600 title forgood measure. James Melvin securedthe sidecar driver's title for the first timewhile Dicky Gale retained thepassenger's award with a differentdriver.BILLY Harris was crowned UK national12 and under tennis champion afterseeing off tough competition in theJunior Grand Prix Finals at CenterParcs, Sherwood Forest.HUSBAND and wife Neil and SaraPearson both brought titles home fromthe World Karate Championship atKarlsrue in Germany. Sara won thewomen's world championship in kumite(fighting) and Neil a double in themen's competition.SHELLEY Kennish, 15, became thefirst Manx representative to win theBritish Crown Green Bowling Ladies’Junior Merit title when she took thehonours at Owleywood RecreationClub, Weaverham. The losing finalistwas fellow South Ramsey BowlingClub member Jenny Moore.WILL Keenan and Kev Coole won thesolo and quad bike classes of the 2007Lifeboat Challenge Beachcross Series,even if they were edged out in the finalround at Peel by the Honda 450 duo ofGareth Quayle and Jamie Corkish.HOVE-based Andrew Bargery securedthe Hankook MSA National GravelChampionship co-driver's title when hefinished second with Marcus Dodd inthe Killarney Forest Rally.ANDY Cannell and Eve O'Hareretained their Autumn Sprint Triathlontitles over a revised Peel course.MARK Cavendish dominated theopening two days of the Tour of Britain,winning the 2.5km prologue time-trialat Crystal Palace and the first roadstage that ended in Southampton.Jonny Bellis grew stronger in the latterstages with three top-10 finishes.Thepair finished 35th in the Tour’s overallstandings.TT and MGP race commentator andhistorian Geoff Cannell died suddenlyof a stroke. He was 65.THE IoM Hockey Association's men'sand women's squads secured asensational double in the BarclaysWealth Islands Hockey Tournament atthe National Sports Centre.PAUL Lowey turned on a scintillatingperformance o win the Bolton OldLinks Trophy at Rossendale Golf Club,equalling the course record with asuperb six under par 66 score.THE Island gained another nationalcycling champion when Team ScottishProvident's Matthew Bostock securedthe British Youth Circuit category Dunder-10 title at Deal, Kent.PETER Kennaugh ended his career asa junior road racer by winning theprestigious Keizer Der JunioresKoksijde two-day event in Belgium.ROBBIE Callister won the End to EndWalk for the sixth time in successionwith a course record-breakingperformance of 6hr 56min 26sec.JONNY Bellis became the first GBrider for 40 years to win a medal at theWorld Road Race Championshipswhen he took bronze in the Under-23event at Stuttgart in Germany.SPAIN dominated the Trial des Nationsevent when it made its secondappearance in the Isle of Man in 11years.Japan pipped Great Britain forsecond place, but the home countrydid sample success in the women'scompetition.

SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 21S U P E R S P E C I A L : The Isle of Man Special Olympics squad won a sackful of medals in ChinaMP070927-2W O R L D C H A M P I O N : James Toseland kisses thegreatest prize in World Superbike after claimingthe title for a second time at Magny-CoursG Y M C H A M P I O N S : Olivia Curran andAlex Hedges retained their Islandgymnastics titles at the Ellan VanninGymnastics Club in DouglasR E D H O T I N C H I L E : Zoë Gillings finishedseventh in the opening round of the FIS WorldCup Snowboardcross series in Chile.A M E R I C A ND R E A M : After atroubled start tothe year, DavidKnight finallyconqueredAmerica withsuccess in theGNCC crosscountryseriesJONTY EDMUNDSR O C K Y H I G H : AlexRockwell on his wayto securing the BritishYouth Motocross titleat BrookthorpeJAMES Toseland held on by the skin ofhis teeth to win his second WorldSuperbike title in four years at Magny-Cours in France. The Ramsey basedrider needed all of his nerve and daringto hold on to his Hannspree Ten KateHonda in the opening seconds of raceone when Ducati Xerox rider LorenzoLanzi cut across his front wheel on thesprint to the first corner.The collisionbrought the Italian down heavily, whileToseland was forced to sit up and ridethrough the gravel trap at more than100mph.DOUGLAS teenager Alex Rockwellwon the premier class of the BritishYouth Motocross Championship at theBrookthorpe moto circuit nearGloucester.NIGEL Armstrong led home fellowManx Harriers runners Mike Garrettand Murray Lambden to win theWestern 10-mile road race.SPORTSWOMAN of Year in 2006, ZoëGillings made a good start to thesnowboardcross season when shefinished seventh in the FIS World Cupround in Chile.CASTLETOWN Cricket Club finishedsecond in the Menorcan 20-20tournament after narrowly losing totournament favourites Barnsley in thecompetition’s final.DAVID Knight was in celebratory moodafter winning the Klotz Ironman eventin Crawfordsville, Indiana. Victorysealed the overall US Grand NationalCross-Country title for the Red BullKTM off-road rider in his debut seasonin America.A FINE run by Sports Aid recipientKeith Gerrard helped Newham andEssex Beagles to third place at theNational Six Stage Road RelayChampionships.SIMON Skillicorn took the honours inthe Glen Roy Hill Race, round one ofthe 2007 Winter Hill League.THE Swagelok-sponsored Isle of ManSwimming team recorded more than80 per cent personal best times fromall the swims they took part in at theannual Robin Hood Open SwimmingGala in Sheffield.Top performer for the Manx was 12-year-old Katie Blaker with four gold andone silver medals, plus two other top10 places.THE Isle of Man Special Olympicssquad returned to the Island fromChina with five gold, six silver and ninebronze medals not to mention somevery creditable fourth, fifth and sixthplace ribbons for excellentperformances against some very toughopposition.THE IoM women’s squash teamnarrowly missed out on a gold medal atthe European Nations Challenge Cupin Latvia.The squad of Isabell Schnoor, VickyWatterson and Jane Wyllie hadproduced solid squash throughout thetournament which justified their centrestageappearance in the final against avery experienced Malta team.ROBIN Davenport won the over-60sWorld Veterans’ Épée FencingChampionship in Sydney, Australia.JOHN Moore claimed the Manx A-Round Clay Shooting Championship atMeary Veg, Santon.ALEX Hedges and Olivia Curranretained their Island gymnastics titlesduring a superb weekend ofcompetition at the Ellan VanninGymnastics Club.MARK Cavendish reached his personaltarget of 11 wins in one season whenhe outgunned Gert Steegmans(Quick.Step-Innergetic) and RobbieMcEwen (Predictor-Lotto) in thepenultimate stage of the 67th CircuitFranco-Belge race.DEFENDING champion and JohnHalligan showed that he was in nomood to relinquish his Manx GasCross-Country Challenge when takinga well-controlled win in the openinground of the Manx Gas Cross-CountryChallenge at Noble’s Park.MARTYN Jones controlled the openinground of the Jaks Bar-sponsoredAutocross series promoted by ManxAuto Sport at at Ballagarey Farm, StMark’s.MANX motocross and quad bike ridershad a great weekend at the beach inWeston-Super-Mare, Jamie McCanneyleading the way with a superb victory inthe small wheel 85cc race to maintainthe Island's winning streak at theworld's toughest sand track meeting.ISLE of Man under-15 badmintonchampion Ben Li finished top of astrong field of 32 players to win theSilver Singles Badminton Englandtournament.

22 SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007E A S Y D O E S I T :Isle of Man HalfMarathonchampion KevinLoundesMP071104-4S U P E R S I M O N : Cricketer Simon Watson received theManx Independent Player of the Year trophy fromspecial guest David Steele PHOTO: MARK ENTWISLER A L L Y I S L A N D : Former World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm sampled the Isle of Man'sroads for the first time in a shakedown for the penultimate round of the 2007 WRC in IrelandPHOTO: DAVE KNEEN www.manxphotosonline.comD O U B L E W H A M M Y :(Left) Chris Whorrallscored a double win inthe Future Stars eventat ManchesterVelodrome in thelatest Revolution trackmeetingANDY WHITEHOUSEC R U I S E R W E I G H T C L A S H : (Right) ManxABC’s Dominic Winrow (red trim)defeated Grant Cunningham ofStaffordshire as the Manx club hostedtheir English counterparts in a 10-boutmatch at the Villa MarinaJULIAN SIMMONDSE I G H T H W O N D E R : Juan Knight won an eighth IoM Centresolo trials title, his 12th overall JOHN WATTERSONKEVIN Loundes won the HaldaneFisher-sponsored Syd Quirk HalfMarathon which this year incorporatedthe Isle of Man Half MarathonChampionships. Astrong finish fromGail Griffiths secured her the women'sIoM Half Marathon title in a time of1:35.14.ROBBIE Cannell lifted the GuinnesssponsoredMen’s Darts Masters title,while Paul Buchan retained his JohnSmith's-sponsored Douglas PoolMasters title. Marsce Douthwaite camethrough a tough competition to lift theLadies' Pool Masters title.SIMON Skillicorn’s dominance of theManx hills continued when he won thePeel race.MANX Road Club rider PeterKennaugh won the under-25s event atthe Ghent Six-Day race riding withteam-mate Adam Blythe.JOHN Moore claimed the clay shootingIsobel Costain Memorial Champion ofChampions Trophy at Meary Veg,Santon.MANX junior archer Aalin George wascrowned Northern Counties under-14Compound champion, while her oldersister Charlotte scored 540 to takesecond place in the u16 women’srecurve competition. Thomas Bottclaimed third in his class.GYMNAST Olivia Curran secured abronze medal at the British GymnasticsChallenge Cup in Aldershot.JUAN Knight won an eighth IoM Centresolo trials title, his 12th in all havingalso won three IoM enduro and oneIoM motocross championship —thehighest tally in the 40-odd year historyof the championship in its current form.Gary Flowers and Antony Smithregained the sidecar title.Matthew Lund and Jamie Corkishretained the Centre motocross andquad bike racing titles.ROB Watson maintained his incrediblefour-year victory run on closed roadsclub events when taking victory in theBlack Horse Finance Stages Rally.DEFENDING champion John Halligansecured his second win of the ManxGas Cross Challenge campaign atCrossags Farm, Ramsey.DAVID Higgins and Ieuan Thomascompleted a full set of wins in China'sNational Rally Championship bywinning the Longyou Rally.CHRISTOPHER Whorrall producedtypically gutsy rides to win the DHLFuture Stars one-mile dash and 5kmscratch events at the ManchesterVelodrome Revolution eventwww.amwphotography.co.ukREGISTERING superb performanceson both counts, Andrew Crennell andHannah Scarlett took the boys' andgirls' titles in the Isle of Man Junior FellRunning Championships at Peel.THE Rhodes Island Games trio of PaulKneen, Alex Kinvig and Julian Corlettfilled the top three places in theopening round of the mountain bikeWinter Challenge Series atArchallaghan.

SPORTS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 23C O R K -E R : Dougie Corkill entered into thefestive spirit at the third round of theWinter Race Walking League in St John’sJM071216-121RACE OF CHAMPIONS: Michael Schumacher’s stricken yellow SolutionF car is tended to by marshals after a spin in the final of the Race ofChampions event at Wembley stadium. Schumacher was joined for therace by Eurosport competition winner James Moore of Douglas (inset)PHOTO: www.raceofchampions.comS I L V E R L I N I N G : (left) Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins on their way tosilver at the Beijing Track World CupS P L A S H D O W N : Action from a very wetand muddy Inter-Schools Cross-Countryevent in CastletownMW07121353S U C C E S S O N A P L A T E : Vagabonds B celebrate their win in the Dorchester Atlantic MarinesponsoredManx Plate Final MIKE WADE 071201-77THE Isle of Man national football sidebegan the defence of the FA NLS Cuptrophy with a 2-1 extra-time victory overWearside.A 67th minute try from stand-off FranzyGermishuys secured the DorchesterAtlantic Marine Manx Plate for VagabondsB in a tight and tense 19-14 win over ageoldrivals Douglas B.MARK Higgins lost his British Rally title onWales RallyGB after a series of mechanicalproblems left him unable to compete withthe factory Mitsubishi of Guy Wilks.IN wet conditions, Peter Kaneen recorded atime of just over 80 minutes to win the Peelto Douglas Walk for the second time thisyear.Kaneen was more than five minutes clear ofMichael George, with Sean Hands a closethird. Leading female Marie Jackson waseighth out of 54 finishers.KEITH Gerrard won team gold in the under-23 men's class of the European Cross-Country Championships at Toro in NorthernSpain, finishing 41st individual.MARK Cavendish and his T-Mobile teammateBradley Wiggins won a silver medalon the final day of the Beijing Track WorldCup.PAUL Sertin took the in the Billy MoughtinDarts Cup beating Mike Kenny 3-0 in theannual event’s final.PEEL and St George’s qualified for the finalof this year’s Parkinson Railway Cup finalwith semi-final victories over Old Boys andLaxey respectively.SIMON Skillicorn secured the Winter HillRunning League title for an amazing fourthconsecutive year.DAVID Knight leads the inaugural IndoorEnduro World Cup following three highlyimpressive performances at the openinground of the series in Barcelona. Knightthen bounced back from the disappointmentof a non-finish in Texas to win round two ofthe competition in Munich.RAMSEY secured Division One of the LinkRecruitment Table Tennis Leagues.JOHN Corlett and Roy Sweetman sealedanother Isle of Man NavigationalChampionship in the best possible style bytaking victory on the year-ending LizLawson Winter Rally.JOHN Halligan won the third round of theManx Gas Cross Challenge at a muddyGlen Lough.MANXMAN James Moore won theopportunity to co-drive with MichaelSchumacher at the Race of Championsevent at Wembley stadium.THE annual Inter-Schools Cross-Countryevent was extremely well supported atCastletown where conditions were wet andmuddy to say the very least over theScarlett and Pooillvaaish basedcourses.Isle of Man Sports Awards 2007The Sports Awards 2007 is to be held on Thursday,March 20, 2008 in the Royal Hall, Villa MarinaIf you wish to nominate a sportsman or sportswoman for one of thefollowing awards, please complete the form below detailing their achievementsin 2007 and return by the closing date of Friday, January 25, 2008(this form can be photocopied for additional nominations)I wish to nominate......................................................................forPlease tick as appropriateSportsman of the YearSportswoman of the YearIoM AmbassadorU21 Sportsman of the YearU21 Sportswoman of the YearDisability SportspersonClub OfficialCoachTeamLifetime AchievementBrief details of achievements in 2007:...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Signed.............................................................Name.....................................................Please return to: Isle of Man Sports Council Office,National Sports Centre, Groves Road, Douglas Isle of Man IM1 2RBORemail your nomination to: pauline.carr@msr.dtl.gov.im