A Grand Weekend of Running

The Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running was held over the weekend.

The leading local finishers in the Festival were Chris Killey and Laura Dickinson, both of Manx Harriers.

The overall Festival champions were Arlo Ludewick (Manchester Uni) and Rebecca Flaherty (Oxford Uni).

Easter Festival

Friday (April 18) saw the IQ-EQ Port Erin 10k with a record field of 573 competitors.

Men’s podium:

1^st – Jeremy Dempsey – Cambridge Uni Greyhounds – 31:29

2^nd – Arlo Ludewick – Manchester Uni Alehouse – 31:34

3^rd – Angus Wright – Edinburgh Uni Hare & Hounds – 31:36

Women’s podium:

1^st – Rebecca Flaherty – Oxford Uni Helicopters – 35:33

2^nd – Rhiannon Paton – Oxford Uni Helicopters – 35:40

3^rd – Pippa Carcas – Leeds Uni Doss A – 36:17

Leading Locals

The leading local competitors were Jordan Cain (33:45) and U20s Ryan Corrin (33:48) of Manx Harriers, along with Western AC’s Corbyn Schade in the men’s race.

Harry Stennett (35:33) of Northern AC was the leading U17 in the race.

The first three local women were Ashleigh Lachenicht (29:26), Clara Isaac (40:32) and Laura Dickinson (41:04).

Peel Race

Saturday (April 19) was the Full Factory Winnerswear Peel Hill Races.

The men’s race attracted an excellent field of 200, with 337 in total.

Arlo Ludewick is the first Manchester Alehouse runner to win an individual men’s race at the Festival since Richard Ward in 2003.

Lucy Storey is the first Durham Uni runner to win an individual female Festival race since Olivia Walwyn-Bush in 2012.

Lucy’s time of 17:01 is the fifth fastest run on the course, and the second fastest by an U20

Arlo Ludewick (Manchester Alehouse) was the winner in a time of 20:46, only 36 seconds outside the record which has stood to James Walsh since 2007 – and that was achieved in perfect conditions.

Podiums

The leading local male was Chris Killey (Manx Harriers) in 46th place.

The leading local female was Laura Dickinson (Manx Harriers) in 36th place.

Men’s podium:

1^st – Arlo Ludewick – Manchester Uni Alehouse – 20:46

2^nd – Angus Wright – Edinburgh Uni Hare & Hounds – 20:56

3^rd – Ritchie Gardiner- Leeds Uni Doss AC – 21:17

Women’s podium:

1^st – Lucy Storey – Durham University – 17:01

2^nd – Pippa Carcas – Leeds Uni Doss A – 17:21

3^rd – Rebecca Flaherty – Oxford Uni Helicopters – 17:23

The top three finishers in both the men’s and women’s races received special commemorative hats, and cheques for £250, £150 and £100 respectively from the event’s local sponsor Martin Bullock of Full Factory Winnerswear.

5k Races

The final day of racing on Sunday (April 20) was the Outback 5k race.

The 5k saw 246 men, 195 women with a total 441 entries.

Jeremy Dempsey is the 12th man in the history of the race to run a sub-15 minute time.

Rebecca Flaherty’s time of 17:16 is the sixth fastest on the course in the women’s race and the fastest by an U20 athlete (beating Naomi Lang’s 17:32 in 2019).

Men’s podium:

1^st – Jeremy Dempsey – Cambridge Uni Greyhounds – 14:57

2^nd – Arlo Ludewick – Manchester Uni Alehouse – 15:06

3^rd – Ritchie Gardiner- Leeds Uni Doss AC – 15:16

Women’s podium:

1^st – Rebecca Flaherty – Oxford Uni Helicopters – 17:16

2^nd – Rhiannon Paton – Oxford Uni Helicopters – 17:19

3^rd – Ceri Griffiths Flaherty – Edinburgh Uni Hare & Hounds – 17:23

The leading local male was Ashleigh Lachenicht  – 18:24

The leading local female was U20 Lucas Stennett (Ramsey Grammar School) – 15:33

Festival Champions

Arlo Ludewick (Manchester) won the men’s title for the first time on his third visit to the Festival.

He was second in the 10km and 5km races and won on Peel Hill, while Jeremy Dempsey won the two road races but missed the hill race.

Rebecca Flaherty (Oxford) won the women’s title on her Festival debut.

She won the two road races and was third on Peel Hill. She is the second successive Oxford Uni winner after Naomi Kingston last year.

The men’s team title went to Edinburgh Uni and the women’s to Oxford Uni.

The leading locals in the overall Festival standings were Chris Killey (Manx Harriers) in the men’s and Laura Dickinson (Manx Harriers) in the women’s.

Overall

Total finishers across all three races was 780 men, 571 women, a total of 1351, which is up over 100 entries since last year’s total of 1212.

Arlo Ludewick is the first Manchester Alehouse Festival winner since Dave Norman in 2015.

Rebecca Flaherty is the second successive Oxford Uni female Festival winner after Naomi Kingston in 2024. Rebecca is the first U20 to win the women’s Festival title since Sarah Inglis in 2010.

Oxford Uni won the women’s Festival title for the first time since 1999.

Full results can be found here: https://my.raceresult.com/284589/