Isle Of Man - Information

The Isle Of Man is located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of sate is Queen Elisabeth II, who holds the title of Lord Of Man. It has beautiful country sides with all types of terrain and is hosts the world famous TT (Tourist Trophy) which takes place on the islands roads, some of the top riders from across the globe come to race in here like Geoff Duke and John McGuiness . Currently the population is just over 88,000 but in TT week the population doubles to 160,000. The Isle Of Man makes it's own laws, has it's own Micro Climate and most famously has it's own unique breed of animals (Loughton sheep, Tailless cats), The Manx cat is a breed of cat noted for having a genetic mutation that causes it to have a shortened tail. The length of this tail can range from a few inches, known as a "stumpy", to being completely nonexistent, or "rumpy". Manx cats display a range of colours and usually have somewhat longer hind legs compared to most cats. The cats have been used as a symbol of the Isle of Man on coins and stamps and at one time the Manx government operated a breeding centre to ensure the continuation of the breed





 - Tailless Cat (Own Image)



I have lived on the Isle Of Man for over 40 years now and I love it! The beautiful landscape blows me away, everyday when I go out I cant help but appreciate how lucky I am to be living on this island. I moved here because it was a good place to bring my kids up, I am quite happy to let them go off to Douglas to the shopping centres on their own because I am sure nothing bad will happen, this has to be one of the most peaceful places ever and I have even started to forget to lock my own doors due to me being so sure that nothing bad could happen, although this is a habit I need to get out of just in case.
The Isle Of Man is also well known due to Mark Cavendish, he has been the most successful Manx athlete and has won 20  Tour De France stages. You can find a whole load of information on Mark Cavendish here  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cavendish.

The Island is perfect for fell running (Running in the countryside) and I personally love it, the feeling when your in the countryside and you body is pumped is amazing and I always see many runners, the hills make it even more of a challenge and the montly fell running competetion is always good fun and tests you to the max.

I have a lot of information on a whole range of Island topics so if you are interested please click the link on the sidebars.

I am not trying promote the Isle Of Man for business reasons but this is more as an informative article and it's my way of letting you all know of how great this place is.

Manx Cats

Manx cats are world famous for being Tailess, having one myself I have been very interested in how they became like this and does it effect them. There are count pages on wikipedia with all sorts of advance details about the nature of the cat, but here I will be putting it a whole lot more simple. Manx cats do no behave any different than normal cats. The taillessness arises from a spontaneous mutation, the Manx taillessness gene, that became common on the island because of the limited genetic diversity of island biogeography (an example of the founder effect and, at the sub-specific level, of the species-area curve)



A lot of people think that all cats have a disease called spina bifida but they dont, here is an extract from wikipedia     -  "Manx syndrome" or "Manxness" is a colloquial name given to the condition which results when the tailless gene shortens the spine too much. It can seriously damage the spinal cord and the nerves causing spina bifida as well as problems with the bowels, bladder, and digestion. Some live for only 3 years; the oldest recorded was 5 years when affected with the disease.

Isle Of Man TT

The Isle Of Man TT  (Tourist Trophy) -  The race is run in a time-trial format on public roads closed for racing by the provisions of an Act of Tynwald (the parliament of the Isle of Man). The first race was held on Tuesday 28 May 1907 and was called the International Auto-Cycle Tourist Trophy. The winner of the single-cylinder class, and overall winner of the first event in 1907, was Charlie Collier riding a Matchless motorcycle in a time of 4 hours, 8 minutes and 8 seconds at an average race speed of 38.21 mph. The winner of the twin-cylinder class was Rem Fowler riding a Peugeot engined Norton in a time of 4 hours 21 minutes and 52 seconds at an average race speed of 36.21 mph.^[2]

The trophy presented to Charlie Collier as the winner of the 1907 Isle of Man TT Race, was donated by the Marquis de Mouzilly St. Mars.^[3] It featured a stylised version of Olympic God Hermes by Giovanni Da Bologna as a silver figurine astride a winged wheel. The trophy was similar in design to the 18 carat gold Montague Trophy presented to John Napier (Arrol-Johnston) as the inaugural winner of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy car race in 1905 now known as the RAC Tourist Trophy.^[4] The Marquis de Mouzilly St. Mars Trophy is now presented annually to the winner of the Isle of Man Senior TT Motor-Cycle Race.

Current Lap Record Holders -

Category	Rider(s)	Machine	Year	Time	Average speed
Outright	John McGuinness	Honda CBR1000RR	2009	17:12.30	131.578 miles per hour (211.754 km/h)
TT Superbike	Conor Cummins	2008 Kawasaki ZX10 1000 cc	2010	17:12.83	131.511 miles per hour (211.646 km/h)
Supersport TT	Michael Dunlop	Yamaha 600 cc	2010	17:42.52	127.836 miles per hour (205.732 km/h)
Lightweight TT (Snaefell)	John McGuinness	Honda	1999	19:18.2	118.29 miles per hour (190.37 km/h)
Lightweight TT (Billown)	Chris Palmer	Honda	2009	2:29.068	102.321 miles per hour (164.670 km/h)
Ultra-Lightweight TT (Snaefell)	Chris Palmer	Honda	2004	20:20.87	110.52 miles per hour (177.86 km/h)
Ultra-Lightweight TT (Billown)	Ian Lougher	Honda	2009	2:39.291	94.911 miles per hour (152.744 km/h)
Senior TT	John McGuinness	Honda CBR1000RR	2009	17:12.30	131.578 miles per hour (211.754 km/h)
TT Superstock	Ian Hutchinson	Honda CBR1000RR	2010	17:18.91	130.741 miles per hour (210.407 km/h)
TT Zero	Michael Rutter	MotoCzysz E1pc	2012	21:45.33	104.056 miles per hour (167.462 km/h)
Sidecar TT	Nick Crowe and Daniel Sayle	LCR Honda 600 Sidecar	2007	19:24.24	116.667 miles per hour (187.757 km/h)

- Taken from Wikipedia


I personally always watch the TT and have always thoroughly enjoyed it, although there is an extreme risk when participating and there are a lot of casualties from it, I am sure that they love it and enjoy the thrill of exceeding 100 Mph along the Islands roads.