Our next club race is the Lambert Trophy One Hour event on Saturday, September 2nd – start 1.00 p.m at the Bury Athletics Club, Market St, Bury BL9 9FX. More than ever it would be very useful if you could indicate your attendance and in what capacity. The track race introduces extra demands on those officiating – lap scoring, for instance. Offers of assistance will be gratefully received by Dave at dave.evans08@hotmail.co.uk

MAP OF THE VENUE

Roy Gunnett reports on a great day in Middlesbrough:

At the Middlesborough 100 mile Challenge incorporating a 50km Open Race held on 19th/20th August 2023, our club had 4 entries. These were all in the 50km Open Race, namely Adrian Edwards, Martin Payne, Sailash Shah and Roy Gunnett.

Unlike last year we had no first claim member entries in the 100 mile – however, our second claim member Martin Fisher was in the 100 mile.

The walkers in both the 100 mile and the 50k set off at noon around the Middlesborough Cycle Circuit. The lap is 976.45 metres long so this necessitates 166 laps for the 100 miles and 52 laps approximately for the 50k.

Much better weather welcomed the walkers this year than last when there were gale-force winds and torrential rain. However, the weather was not all plain sailing and although dry and fairly warm there was throughout the race a strong wind.

12 walkers had entered the 50k and 19 walkers the 100 mile. The field included a very strong Dutch participation.

One of the great things about the event was the friendly and cheerful atmosphere that prevailed – helped in no small measure by the Dutch contingent.

All our club walkers finished the 50k. Adrian was our lead man home, who walked strongly throughout and came home in 6hrs 19 minutes 22 seconds in 3rd position. Martin also walked strongly and finished in 6hrs 43minutes 32 seconds in 5th position. Roy was trying to beat 7 hours but slowed in the later stages and finished in 7hrs 19minutes 34seconds in 9th place. Sailash stuck to his task well and succeeded in breaking 8 hours in 7 hours 55 minutes 55secs in 11th place.

In the 100 mile, our second claim member Martin walked well up to 50 miles when he retired.

The only British competitor to finish the 100-mile race was Colin Vesty – who fought bravely to ensure he broke the 24-hour barrier- completing it in 23hrs 53 minutes 36 seconds.

None of these events could take place without the support of dedicated helpers and our regulars Eric Horwill and Glyn Jones were there to the fore carrying out refereeing and judging roles. A special word of thanks must also go to Marion and Peter Fawkes for running the feeding station.

All in all a great weekend and long may it continue.

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I’ll replace these screen captures – thanks to Graham Jackson – when the results appear on the Centurions website.