HONOURING THE CLUB’S CENTURIONS and WISHING ADRIAN AND SAILASH ALL THE BEST IN THE ISLE OF MAN, AUGUST 17/18, 2019

Find below a rather rushed tribute to our club’s Centurions ahead of this weekend’s 100 miles race in the Isle of Man, where Adrian Edwards and Sailash Shah are our representatives. The post needs tidying up and where possible further information and photos added. Hence, if you’ve any tales and/or pictures these would be gratefully received. After this coming weekend, I’ll create a Centurions page so it can be accessed more easily. Grateful thanks to Dave Evans for providing the basis for this important part of the club’s history and Chris Bolton for some of the photos. Also, I’ve included performances by Albert Rigby, who at the time was a member of the Sutton Macclesfield AC and by several members of the then Leyland AC, including Bill Maxwell.

What is a Centurion?” A Centurion is an amateur athlete, who has walked 100 miles within 24 hours in a judged competition in Great Britain. The rules to qualify as a Centurion are quite simple: Walk 100 miles within the 24-hour time limit in accordance with the current Centurions race criteria and Race Walking Association racewalking rules.

The 2019 Tower Insurance Isle of Man open 100 Mile Event incorporating the RWA National Long Distance Race Walking Championship is the next chance to become a centurion on 17/18 August 2019 – starting at 2.00 p.m. Both Adrian Edwards and Sailash Shah will be on the starting line. It would be remiss too not to mention that Martin Fisher of the Redcar RWC and a regular supporter of our club races will be looking to complete his 30th 100 miles challenge. Best Wishes from everyone at the club to Adrian, Sailash and Martin.

One thing to be sure is that I’m not giving Adrian any advice on how to handle 100 miles but I’m quietly confident that Adrian will smash it.

Wishing Sailash all the best in his latest attempt to join the prestigious ranks of the Centurions

LANCASHIRE WALKING CLUB

CENTURIONS: ROLL OF HONOUR

Centurion Number /Name /Time/ Date & Venue

18 Tommy E Payne 24:00:00 on 11/09/1908 London [24 hours track race]
20 A Ormrod 24:00:00 on 11/ 09 /1908 London [24 hours track race]

47 E G Mitchell 23:32:50 on 17/ 09/ 1909 London

101 George P Birchall 19:40:35 on 18/ 09/ 1936 Bradford
102 Jim O’Neill 19:51:52 on 18/ 09/ 1936 Bradford
110 Billy Pennington 22:54:01 on 18/ 09 /1936 Bradford
136 Frank O’Neill 22:06:18 on 20 /06/ 1947 London-Brighton and back
148 Cliff Royle 21:41:23 on 23/ 09 /1949 Bradford
194 Dick Ditchfield 22:25:37 on 03 /10 /1952 Bath to London

George J Birchall Centurion 220. He became a Centurion dead-eating with his father. George P Birchall, Centurion 101 in the storm-ridden Manchester- Blackpool race of 1954

Joe Barraclough Centurion 260, who in the same year he clocked 18:26:12 for 100 miles, did 37:08 for five

John Todd Centurion 285 looking immaculate

220 George J Birchall 19:32:27 on 23 /07/1954 Blackpool-Manchester and back
221 T L M Dally 20:37:19 on 23 /07 /1954 Blackpool Manchester and back
222 Albert Rigby [Sutton] 21:35:15 on 23 /07 /1954 Blackpool-Manchester and back
223 Joe Lambert 21:44:00 on 23/ 07/ 1954 Blackpool-Manchester and back
228 E E Riddell 23:20:27 on 23/ 07/ 1954 Blackpool-Manchester and back
252 John Grocott 22:11:53 on 01/ 07/ 1955 London-Brighton and back
255 Fred Pearce Snr 22:29:50 on 01/ 07/ 1955 London-Brighton and back
256 Vic Murray 22:29:50 on 01/07/1955 London-Brighton and back
260 Joe Barraclough 18:26:12 on 06/ 07 /1956 Sheffield-Harrogate and back
261 Dick Smith 19:26:37 on 06 /07/ 1956 Sheffield-Harrogate and back
263 Ivor Percival [Leyland AC] on 06/07/1956 Leicester to Skegness
285 John Todd 23:07:37 on 18/ 07 /1958 Leicester to Skegness
294 J Derrick [Leyland AC] 21:29:12 on 03/07/1959 London-Brighton and back

Vic Murray Centurion 256 dead-heated with Fred Pearce Snr Centurion 255

It would be a cliche to say Bill Cowley Centurion 319 always had a smile on his face, but every picture tells a story

307 Harry Tetlow 21:54:24 on 02 /07 /1960 Leicester to Skegness
310 Joe Billington [Leyland AC] 21:59:00 on 2/7/1960 Leicester-Skegness
319 Bill Cowley 22:28:30 on 30/ 10/ 1961 Chigwell
330 Brian Howarth [Leyland AC] 22:09:27 on 6/7/1962 Leicester-Skegness
332 Chris Bolton 22:09:27 on 06 /07 /1962 Leicester to Skegness
355 Sid Smith 20:28:38 on 03/ 07/ 1964 Leicester to Skegness

414 Alan Hudson 19:20:52 on 03/ 08/ 1968 Leicester to Skegness
433 Alan Day 19:54:18 on 26/ 09/ 1969 Bristol
457 J Williamson 22:50:35 on 31/ 07/ 1970 Leicester to Skegness

502 Eddie Jones 23:22:10 on 28/ 07 /1972 Leicester to Skegness
509 Bill Maxwell [Leyland AC] 20:52:29 on 21/9/1973 Bristol

612 E Murray 22:25:17 on 14/ 10 /1977 Bristol
617 B Breen 22:50:58 on 14/10/1977 Bristol
656 Frank Dolan 21:33:14 on 22 /06 /1979 Ewhurst

706 L P Hey 22:44:54 on 25/ 07/1980 Leicester
762 Robert Thacker 21:40:45 on 24 /06 /1983 Ewhurst
797 Alan Chandler 22;37:06 on 30/ 05/ 1986 Woodford

893 Ron Wallwork 22:26:07 on 21 /07 /1992 Leicester
899 Ian Garmston 23:16:24 on 21/ 07/ 1992 Leicester

Joe Hardy Centurion 981 leads Dave Crompton

Dave Evans Centurion 998 on the right with Tony Malone and Eric Horwill

973 John Payn 23:10:10 on 12 /08/ 2000 Newmarket
981 Joe Hardy 22:00:20 on 10 /08/ 2002 Blackpool
983 Hazel Fairhurst 23:31:27 on 10 /08 /2002 Blackpool
993 Alf Short 22:45:37 on 26/ 07/ 2003 Newmarket
998 Dave Evans 23:40:16 on 26 /07 /2003 Newmarket

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