Dave Evans, punctual as ever, reports from a sun-baked Bury:

With an ambient temperature of 30 degrees centigrade on the track, it would not have surprised me if the final skin colour of the aspirants resembled the new orange “tartan” colour of the newly laid surface. For the first time this year, the water buckets and sponges made an appearance thanks to a last-minute reminder from Glyn Jones who manned this station and the water feeding station throughout.

The last-minute appearance of Martin Fisher added some more quality to the race and Adrian Edwards our newest Lancs Walking Club Centurion rose to the challenge and breasted the tape with seconds to spare. Even though the temperature was in the eighties in “old money” no one buckled under the sun and all were in fine fettle at the post-race get-together. Martin Payne and Sailash Shah have both returned in good form from their sojourn to the recent Eindhoven distance events.

The Lancashire walking club has continued to provide monthly competitions for its members for most of its 116 years and not surprisingly we had a contingent that included two 80 + year-olds and quite a number of “youngsters” in their 70s!

The highlight of the proceedings today was the awarding of Life Membership to Eric Horwill who has supported the Lancashire walking club for many years and he joins a very select group of individuals including an Olympic silver medallist, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Fred Pearce who held the club together through thick and thin till his untimely departure in 2019.

It was nice to see former International Chris Harvey following a considerable time recovering from ill health and a previous regular visitor John Gordon who made the long journey from Wales.

Results(10k)
1. Adrian Edwards 60:54
2. Martin Fisher 60:56
3. Martin Payne 70:23
4. Roy Gunnett 72:23
5. Sailash Shah 77:58
6. Ian Hilditch 80:43
7. Joe Hardy 80:43

(7.6k)
Pat Evans 57:39

(5.2k)
John Gordon 41:98

(5k)
Greg Smith 39:32
Steven Wilde 40:55
Andrea Lennon 48:43

Handicap results
1. Martin Fisher 59:56
2. Adrian Edwards 60:54
3. Roy Gunnett 61:53
4. Martin Payne 64:23
5. Sailash Shah 66:28
6. Joe Hardy 68:43
7. Ian Hilditch 70:13
8. Pat Evans
9. John Gordon
10. Greg Smith
11. Steven Wilde
12. Chris Harvey
13. Andrea Lennon

Thanks as ever to Greg Smith for the excellent photos, which bring the site to life.

Personal postscript re Eric Horwill and Tony Taylor

I’m sure he won’t remember but we first raced against one another in the Isle of Man TT Walk – the year 1965. I was just turned 18 with few miles under my belt and was quite proud to finish, managing to outlast Eric, who was racing in the colours of Dudley. He appears in the result as C. Horwell! Ironically it was to be the longest race I ever did. It’s getting on for half a century ago!!

Finally best wishes to all, who are competing in the BMAF 5 kilometres championship on Sunday, June 18th in Horwich, the renaissance of which owes much, you’ve guessed, to Eric Horwill. together with Adrian Edwards. Here’s hoping there’s a great turnout. Here’s hoping for Lancashire success.