Not looking forward to re-starting the blog

Brian Goldsmith, who passed away on Saturday, at Ballacraine in the 2007 Peel to Douglas walk.

I think I implied last week that I would be giving the blog a rest for a few days and those few days turned out to be even more hectic than I could have imagined.

The worst part of the weekend, however, on returning to my house on Saturday morning to download pictures and videos from the Manx Mountain Marathon before heading off to Peel for the Peel Hill Race, was to receive an email from Eammon Harkin.

He was passing on the news that Brian Goldsmith had passed away just a couple of hours earlier. Brian was due to train with a group of walkers on Saturday morning but had failed to show up - Eammon had received the news from their mutual friend, John Stubbs.

Only the previous evening Brian had been marshalling at the Easter Festival 10km. Ian Turnbull, who has written a wonderful tribute to Brian for the http://www.manxathletics.com/ website was due to go on holiday with Brian and his wife Sandie tomorrow and had been with them when Brian returned home from the run on Friday evening.

Brian was a late convert to race walking only after injuries prevented him from running. I'd known him for around 20 years without ever being too close but he regularly gave me feedback about my websites. He would tell me how much he enjoyed them but he was equally quick to tell me if he didn't like something - such as when I experimented by putting text over photos.

Sandie is an amazing lady who, despite coming to terms with such a sudden loss, found time yesterday to phone me to thank me for featuring Brian on the website. She completed the Parish Walk in 2001 (she said she couldn't have done it without Brenda Charlton's company) but it remained one of Brian's ambitions to get the whole way around.

I wasn't looking to re-starting the blog this morning on such a sad note and in the knowledge that that Brian would not be among the daily visitors to http://www.manxathletics.com/ this morning.

You can read the tributes to Brian (or add your own) at http://pub38.bravenet.com/forum/3219660836/show/668272

Murray