Apologies to Chris Bolton for the belated appearance of this recognition of his mightily impressive Nijmegen achievement.

Chris hailed in the Dutch press

Chris writes:

[In July] I completed the Nijmegen four day walks for the seventeenth time.   This year it went well with no problems. The first two days were 21 miles and the last two 19, making an average of 20 a day.

It was extremely hot but I completed each day without a stop and so finished in a reasonable time.

The golden cross with 17x participation pin

Because my first participation, at 55 Kms, was in 1958 this was 60 years since my first. The local press featured my long association with the event.

When I investigated further, courtesy of the August 1958 Race Walking Record, Chris was a member of the eleven-strong Race Walking Association Team, which was captained by the Lancashire Walking Club stalwart, Joe Lambert. Chris and Joe had warmed up for Nijmegen by finishing 21st and 22nd in the Manchester-Blackpool Walk, separated by a couple of minutes. As an aside, across the same few weeks, Fred Pearce Senior was finishing the Leicester-Skegness 100 miles in 22:16;17, whilst our very own Fred Pearce Junior was winning the Northern Junior One Mile title.

For more information on the Nijmegen Marches

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Four_Days_Marches_Nijmegen