in 2003. Her performances at that stage were modest, but a turning point came when she went to the 2005 Island Games in Shetland as a spectator and saw at first hand what was involved. Over the following winter she upped her training and started racing over the full cross country distances and up to 10k on the road. By the spring of 2006 she was within a couple of minutes of the Island Games development guideline time for 10k, and at this point she joined Andy Fox‟s training group.
Gail cranks her 125cc Honda into the Bungalow during the Ultra Lig htweight race at the 2005 Manx Grand Prix
Over the next two years Gail‟s progress was fantastic, and in August 2006 she made her half marathon debut at Ramsey, recording a time just four seconds outside the Island Games guideline. She achieved the required time in the Syd Quirk event that November, which clinched her selection for Rhodes in 2007. A combination of injury problems, a serious family worry and searing heat meant that Gail was nowhere near her best in Rhodes, finishing 11th in both the Half Marathon and 10,000m races, but this only made her even more determined to improve further by 2009. Gail‟s performances over the following two years on road, track and country continued to improve spectacularly, and she clinched selection for the 2009 Games in Aland with a clocking of 88.33 at the Brass Monkey Half Marathon at York, a huge pb at that stage. She expected to be competitive in Aland and she certainly was, finishing sixth in the 10,000m race and seventh in the Half Marathon. Her performance in the latter event was particularly good as many other competitors found the course very tough, but Gail was not far outside her pb. Still Gail‟s relentless improvement continued, and in March 2010, just after her 45th birthday, she finished in an incredible 20th place in the women‟s race out of over 6000 in the Berlin Half Marathon. She took over three minutes off her pb in this race with a clocking of 85.07. By this stage she was a regular Lancashire representative in the Inter Counties cross country championships, and to date is still reducing her pbs regularly at all her racing distances. Gail will be very competitive in both the 10,000m and Half Marathon races in the Isle of Wight, and she and her teammate Hannah Howard have a great medal chance in the Half Marathon team event. An Island Games medal would be a just reward for an extremely dedicated athlete!