Thanks as ever to Dave Evans for the revealing report and Greg Smith for the excellent photos, of which there are many more to use in ensuing posts. Much appreciated.

The athlete whose name we see on the trophy achieved great success in the 1920’s by winning a silver medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics track walk 10000 metres. His time of 48 mins 37 would still win many events and we remember that in those days the walking style would be quite strict. No clear water under these guys.

The weather was humid with the slight threat of rain but nobody complained about the walking environment. On this occasion the club decided to use a modified version of the Dave Crompton 7 mile shaving off around 1260 metres and making the course an out and back. The field of walkers seemed to enjoy this alternative.

Although not strictly required the handicapper decided to separate the field into 4 groups each leaving the start at different times. Unwinding the times for each walker at the 1 mile point produced the following series of times:-
9 mins 51 Adrian Edwards, 10 18 Stuart Edgar , 10 21 Tony Malone, 10 48 Ian Hilditch, 11 15 Roy Gunnett, 11 16 Joe Hardy/Sailash Shah/Phil McCullagh/Pat Evans, 11 45 Steven Wilde/Dave Hoben.

From the final times it was clear that a number of our walkers had improved substantially in the last couple of months making some of the predicted times established by the handicapper looking a bit understated ! Setting the field off at intervals but in doubles or trios produced some close finishes with the first 5 appearing within 1 minute and 45 seconds. This course certainly tests a walkers ability to handle both steep uphill and sharp downhills but everyone took these in their stride.

The timekeeper (Eric Horwill)and recorder (Dave Evans)discussed the subject of who might appear first and both were wrong ! Stuart Edgar walked particularly well and recorded an excellent 63 mins 25 not too far ahead of the fast closing Adrian Edwards who managed a strong 60 mins 52. Tony Malone , who set off with Adrian at the start , walked extremely well and was only 27 seconds in arrears. Ian Hilditch continues to defy the ravages of advancing years and recorded a very gratifying 65 mins 40. The overall results were very pleasing and were recorded as follows:-

1. Adrian Edwards 60 mins 52
2. Tony Malone 61 mins 19
3. Stuart Edgar 63 mins 25
4. Ian Hilditch 65 mins 40
5. Phil McCullagh 67 mins 09
6. Pat Evans 67mins 59
7. Joe Hardy 68mins 07
8. Roy Gunnett 68 mins 38
9. Sailash Shah 70 mins 38
10. Dave Hoben 72 mins 04
11. Steven Wilde 72 mins 04

Handicap result

1. Roy Gunnett 53 mins 28
2. Dave Hoben 54 mins 34
3. Joe Hardy 56 mins 07
4. Phil McCullagh 56 mins 14
5. Steven Wilde 56 mins 14
6. Ian Hilditch 57 mins 15
7. Sailash Shah 57 mins 18
   8 Stuart Edgar 58 mins 10
8. Pat Evans 58 mins 34
9. Tony Malone 60 mins 19
10. Adrian Edwards 60 mins 52

Finally a big thank you to Louise Whaite and Eric Crompton for providing the race headquarters and refreshments. Our marshalls Greg Smith and Irene Pike kept the field on the straight and narrow and all arrived back safely but tired.

At the post race briefing mention was made of the next race which is the 1 hour track walk at Bury on September 4th and comments about the need for lap scorers. Anyone wanting to support the race either as a competitor or official /helper should let Tony Taylor know as soon as they can.

To celebrate the life and contribution of Dave Crompton a brand new trophy was presented to Ian Hilditch who won Dave’s 7 miles handicap event on May 8th.