Enormous praise is due to Guy Goodair for providing this end-of-year treat- a fascinating insider insight into the 1960 John O’Groats to Lands End race, which we alluded to in our tribute to Beryl Randle.

Guy begins the wonderful tale. 

Imagine being offered the chance to run or walk from John O’Groats to Lands End with a first prize, which would enable you to buy a modest house in many parts of the country – would you have a go? The snags – you’ve less than 3 weeks to prepare, and you must make all your own arrangements for feeding, accommodation en route, spare clothing etc.

Sixty-four years ago ‘would be’ competitors were thinking of heading for Scotland to take part in Billy Butlin’s challenge race from John O’Groats to Lands End which was scheduled to start at dawn on Saturday 27th February, later rescheduled to start on the Friday at 5pm because the large entry could not be accommodated in John O’Groats overnight. Remember this was in the days before the running boom, there were no specialised running shoes, and most runners used Dunlop Green Flashes, There was a lot of local opposition to the race taking place – The Chief Constable of Caithness asked for it to be cancelled in view of the bad weather conditions in the county and the county police and medical services would be unable to deal with the expected number of casualties – most roads were affected by hard-packed snow. In fact, the road between Bonar Bridge and Dingwall was blocked meaning a 14 miles detour via Tain. The main prizes were equally divided between Men and Women with £1000 to the winner, £500 for 2nd and £250 for 3rd with awards to the oldest and youngest competitors to finish. Competitors had to make their own arrangements for resting feeding and transporting of their spare clothing, and the race had only been announced two weeks previously.

A training partner of mine John Grundy of Wakefield Harriers decided to have a go. John was a good distance runner who’d had an excellent result in the 1959 London to Brighton race and won the Liverpool to Blackpool 58 miles race the year before. John was a delivery driver for British Rail and he would deliver goods from Kirkgate Station all over the Wakefield District – including a well-known local firm, ‘Clegg and Huntingdon’. When Mr Huntingdon heard of John’s intentions he offered to sponsor him by paying for John’s expenses in the race. John’s brother-in-law would follow John in his van carrying food, spare clothing etc

Over 700 runners set off and John immediately went into the lead covering the first twenty miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes which he kept until he stopped for the night at Dunbeath (39 miles from the start). Many retired after just one night realising the immensity of the task involved. After the second night a Bermudan, David Robinson had taken the lead from John and held it throughout Scotland, only losing it at Penrith. Back in Wakefield, we used to get a phone call giving us details of John’s progress. We decided to give him some support at the weekend. Bob Walker and I set off after work on Friday to drive up to meet John (no motorways then!)

Up the A1 to Scotch Corner then over Bowes Moor, pick the A6 to Carlisle. We reckoned we’d see John somewhere between Carlisle and Gretna Green – got to Gretna Green and no sign of him. We eventually found John on the outskirts of Ecclefechan about 10 miles further into Scotland – a weary figure bundled up against the cold. His knee was giving him a lot of trouble. He settled in the back of the car for a few hours of sleep (about 4 before we bundled him out) and we slowly ran down to Carlisle Hospital where they bandaged his knee.

Then changing into running gear we set off southwards. Bob and I alternated pacing John throughout the day before we headed home. On the following Monday after work, I drove over to Cheshire and met up with him again and together with Ken Gates, one of John’s old rivals from Liverpool, paced him for a long time into the night.

John kept in touch with us by phone and eventually went into the lead passing Alf Rozental, a race walker from Newark and by Thursday he had a 3-hour lead but his knee was still troubling him.

His sponsors decided to go down to the southwest to see the finish and asked me if I’d like to go – my boss kindly gave me the day off and on the journey down for the first time I was in a car (a Jaguar) which went over 100 mph (before the days of speed limits) and we met up with John in Crediton Devon (approx 115 miles from Land’s End) he had dropped to second place behind Jim Musgrave of Doncaster. I started to run with him and did a 20-mile stint before getting in the car for a thirty-minute rest then out again for another 20 miles before another half-hour’s break followed by a 15-miler and another rest. My sessions grew ever shorter and the rests longer.

Chris Brasher and Clement (Clay) Freud were covering the race for the Observer newspaper and when Brasher found out John was a proper club runner he wholeheartedly threw his weight behind John’s effort. Word filtered back that Musgrave had stopped for a meal in the next town about 3 miles ahead, Brasher exhorted John to pick up the pace and pass him – ‘It’ll demoralise him’ Brasher said but John was desperately tired now and hungry too so when we reached the town’s outskirts John spotted this pub and wanted to stop – he was still behind where Musgrave was dining. Brasher wanted him to go on but John refused. It was a busy Saturday night in the pub but Brasher went straight up to the Landlord and explained the situation and told him to get a hot bath run immediately. He then asked which local lived nearest and told him to go home and get a meal prepared straight away. After the bath, John went to the local’s house where the meal was duly ready.

Of course, by this time Musgrave was back on the road. John was down to a steady shuffle now and although we kept telling him he could win £1000 he kept replying (rightly) ‘But I’m going to get £500 –there’s no one near me behind’. Eventually, we were reduced to a walk

Musgrave finally reached the finish at 7.32am on Sunday morning whilst John came in a weary second around 90 minutes later (8.55am) and race walker Alf Rozentals third at 1.20pm. 113 men completed the course. the last finishing on Friday 25^th at 5pm and 25 Women, the last finishing on Thursday 24th at 6.45pm

For much of the race, Beryl Randle was in the lead but was outpaced over the later stages by Wendy Lewis who finished on Tuesday 15^th at 12.30am followed by Beryl the same day at 8.30am

According to my diary, I did 84 miles on the last two days and I slept for most of the journey back to Yorkshire. The AAA immediately banned John from amateur races but he did the same as John Tarrant – became a ‘ghost runner’ joining in just after the start, without a number, then swerving around the recorders at the finish without actually going over the official finish line

If you want a fuller picture of the race see if you can get a copy of the book “The Big Walk” by A Walker published by Prentice-Hall International Inc. (there’s at least one copy on Amazon and several on ABE Books).

Once again thanks to Guy for a ‘beltin’ read. There’ll be a New Year post next week with the results of the December Virtual 5 kilometres. For now our very best wishes for 2024 to all our readers!