Isle of Man distance runner Christa Cain has won the 2026 David Teece Award for Excellence.

She received the trophy from members of the Teece family during the presentation for the Anna-Maria Cutillo Foxdale 5 at the Baltic Hotel on Thursday evening.

Following David’s untimely passing at the age of 40 in 2008, the trophy was first presented in his memory the following year. It recognises sustained excellence in the sport of athletics over the preceding year.

Over the past decade, the trophy has been won by Ollie Lockley, Hannah Riley, Rachael Franklin, David Mullarkey, Tom Partington, Sarah Astin, Sarah Webster, Corrin Leeming and Regan Corrin.

Cain is a very worthy successor to those outstanding athletes.

Her achievements over the past year and more include a hat-trick of gold medals at the Island Games in Orkney, during which she set a new Games record in the 10,000 metres.

She also broke Brenda Walker’s long-standing Isle of Man women’s marathon record and received a surprise but thoroughly deserved late call-up to represent the Isle of Man at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Christa was visibly emotional as she received the award from Elliott and Carla Teece, following a short speech by David’s wife Sandrina, who explained the significance of the award and paid tribute to Christa’s achievements.

Writing on her social media outlets afterwards, Cain said: 'Last night I was incredibly proud to be awarded the David Teece Trophy of Excellence.

'I genuinely had no idea this was going to happen and it came totally unexpectedly. This truly means so much to me.

'Running has given me some incredible experiences, from representing the Isle of Man to racing on some huge stages, and I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported, encouraged and believed in me along the way.

'Thank you to the Teece family from the bottom of my heart. Feeling very lucky, very grateful and very motivated for what’s still to come.'

DAVID GRIFFITHS