Isle of Man of Steel (Sunday)

Left it a bit...but here goes!

An early start greeted our hungover heroes fresh from ten plus pints, 10 plus miles and the 3rd place in the hill race. It was agreed by those at the Wicklow Hills that Saturday night was right up there with the best 14AC adventures...the smiles said it all.

But it was back to business - and having found out the results from the previous two days we discovered we were in a handy 4th place overall, ahead of our hosts from Leeds! Looking at the standard of the Liverpool, HBT(!!) and Alehouse teams ahead of us, we agreed we were doing as well as could be realistically expected, in fact probably better. We realised the real fight would be to hold on to 4th position over the 4x5k relay along Douglas promenade. (2.5k out&back) This would mean holding off Alehouse B and Doss A, and Cambridge, amongst others.

More pertinantly, this means finally cranking up Baptiste and his troublesome groin for some race action. A voyage into the unknown, a risk if you will.

Anyway, keen not to miss the start, Leaf Kellie and Foster headed down to the ferry terminal for the start, where Gaunt was waiting. We were glad to discover Gaunt's race prep was as thorough as our own, following his abduction the previous evening, there had been more beer and a 'rancid' curry, which was that bad it manage to penetrate a haziness rating Professor A.Greenlead Bsc rated as at least a 9.

The race started at the ungodly hour of 10.45, by which time the poor ladies had run their 5k not-a-relay-just-a-race. But they hadn't drunk as much. Well they looked better than our wearisome mob, anyway. We set Leaf off first, as one does in these situations, so that he can put us somewhere decent, and he didn't fail to oblige. The first leg, was, well, rapid, and when Leaf came home in 10th, we knew we had some hard work to do. But you could tell Andy had run his football socks off, as evidenced by Gaunt's claim he had never seen such a grimace. 16.28 in those winds blowing in from the sea was no mean effort.

Crucially we were behind Doss A and Edinburgh A. Gas man set off reasonably, and worked that hangover off to finish only 8 seconds slower than Andy in 16.37. He had also reeled in and spat out, his old friends from Edinburgh, showing once and for all which side of the green fence he stands on. And, no, the grass is not always greener on the other side.

So it was becoming apparent that to hold onto that lucrative 4th place (prize money - £0, glory, immense) then we had to beat Doss A team. So while Legs 1&2 were in progress, there was a lot of kiddology going on between Leon and his yellow chums. Luckily Baptiste managed to deflect all the pressure onto last leg man Kellie, by running precisely 1 second quicker than the Doss 3rd leg, leaving big Pete with it all to do, hauling in the anchor.

No problem! By the time he came into the last k the green machine was way and clear of the yellow peril and 4th place was secured, with 6th place in the relay. A fine achievement we all agreed, but we still want more!!

This left more leisure time...'Super Sunday' occupied Gaunt's mind, obviously working down into the culture and sport department means sky sports spin has a great effect on his mind, and so Pete and Martin watched Utd beat Liverpool 3-0. Out in the hailstorm meanwhile, Foster helped Leeds to score past Manchester, but couldn't prevent the 7 Manchester scored. But it was worth it, for the mud bath alone. And Leaf? Went on another run - he claimed he was going for a walk, but the cuts and scrapes said otherwise...you'd walk round a gorse bush surely??

Onto the evening, and there was a distinct lack of eating, but obviously this left more room for drinking at the presentation/beer racing competition/party. Leon had 15 pints to make his 50, this was achieved sometime after 1am. The 5 pints in leading the Doss beer racing team to the final helped, being cheated out of victory for the 2nd year running only acted as a catalyst. Both the 'Touchdown' game, and shoelace skipping made another apperance...while Gaunt did his best to avoid being anywhere near the bar by camoluging himslef in green. We picked up £10 each for 3rd in the hill race, Leaf an additional 10 for his stormer. Kellie did his best for inter-club relations, and Andy generally upped the haziness wherever possible. Another stonking night.

Monday meant an obscenely early departure for Leon and Pete, while Gaunt went to Lakey wheel, and Leaf blasted out another 2 hour run, this time up to Snaefell and back!

All in all, a very successful weekend, with just the right balance of carnage elements, thanks to everyone who made it possible...we will be back!! Now on more time...mama...oooooohhhh!