Dave Evans reports:

At a venue in a quiet suburb of Manchester where two young athletes had just broken the famous 4 minute mile the Lancashire walking club promoted its One Hour track race. Historically the one hour event was held to give walkers a chance of winning a special accreditation for walking a set distance in an hour. This was no different but age takes it toll and winning or placing in an event takes preference.

Tony Bell confirmed his present good form by outpacing his regular rivals with a very disciplined attack on 9k which he missed by less than 90 metres. It was satisfying to see the return of Sailash Shah to competition , looking strong, and John Crahan who gives everything from a background of athletics field events.

Pleased to see Chris Bolton at the race and many thanks to Chris Harvey, Greg Smith and Irene Pike for lap recording.

Results

1. Tony Bell 8918 metres
2. Martin Payne 8676 metres
3. Roy Gunnett 8597 metres
4. Sailash Shah 7881 metres
5. Glyn Jones 7754 metres
6. Joe Hardy 7708 metres
7. Pat Evans 7694 metres
8.John Crahan 7245 metres
9. Ian Hilditch 6890 metres

Dave adds:

Tony walked the legs off the rest of the field but Martin and Roy had a ding dong for most of the race. Roy hasn’t long completed a 50 mile at the Centurions 100 so did remarkably well to stay in contention for most of the 1 hour. Sailash looks a lot better than in previous years. He’s had an injury which has taken 12 months to heal. 

Thanks as ever to Greg Smith for the excellent and unusual photos.