Following our latest One Hour track race some of us found ourselves reminiscing about the past significance of the One Hour mark in the history of our sport. This emphasis is captured in the track races held specifically to see what distances competitors could complete within the 60 minutes. In addition young and old newcomers to race walking were challenged to attain their 6 or 7 miles in the hour Race Walking Association medals. These could be earned on the road, hence the plethora of 6 and 7 miles Opens, such as the Leicester Seven, a favourite destination for our members, courtesy of a club charabanc from Manchester. Indeed LWC itself organised an annual 6 miles in the Hour badge race, which I mentioned in an earlier post paying tribute to Frank O’Neill, the meticulous club secretary of that era.

By the early 1960’s Frank was undoubtedly a key figure, particularly as his wonderful Edwardian terraced house in Worsley was a second club headquarters, the enormous bay-windowed front room on the third floor being our changing facility. Every year the club’s 6 miles in the Hour Badge event was held from the house on an out and back course, followed by tea and luscious scones baked by Mary, Frank’s gentle wife. More significantly, especially across the winter, a Tuesday evening training session was held in the dark[!] on the very same roads. Today the halfway point on the way there and back is a frantic roundabout access to and exit from a spaghetti junction of motorways. Nowadays you could be stuck there for longer than it took to complete the 6 miles race!

In addition the club organised in the late 1960s a Six Miles Novice race to attract new blood – see this 1968 result. Dave Vickers, a steeplechase and cross-country runner burst on to the scene, winning the classic Dick Hudson’s Open at Bradford in the very next year. Tony Malone in 13th place was to become a Junior International and a leading British walker through into the 1980s. And I love the thought of the Leyland Congregationalists taking the Youth Club trophy.

More recently, in this century, our fixture list has featured the One Hour ‘Joe Lambert’ event on the Bury track. Here we see the start of this year’s race.

On the broader and historical front, the One Hour track challenge is synonymous with the Highgate Harriers, who organised the very first in 1942 in aid of the Red Cross. In 1945 the beneficiary became the blind veterans’ charity, St Dunstans. From the outset of the series competitors were split into sections according to their likely performances. As you can see the first race witnessed an A and a B section. When I raced in 1963 at the age of sixteen I was placed in the D section, where the principal challenge was to cover 6 miles in the hour

Over the years it was less than easy to compete in the Highgate Hour race, given the long journey, the expense and its proximity to other major races, such as the aforementioned Leicester 7. However here is a list in alphabetical order of those, who ventured forth and South with a report from 1961.

1. Chris Bolton 11,566 metres 1972
2. Gordon Brown 9,900 metres, 1969 and 9,690 metres, 1970
3. John Burns 5 miles 1715 yards, 1958 representing Leyland Motors AC
4. Eric Crompton 12,531 metres, 1973 and 12,356 metres, 1974 representing Leyland Motors AC
5. Steve Crow 11,869 metres, 1969
6. Tom Dunn 6m 104y, 1959
7. Guy Goodair 7m 825y, 1964 in Wakefield colours
8. Harold Harwood 7m 535y, 1951
9. Roy Higgins 11,315 metres, 1971
10. Julian Hopkins 12,206 metres, 1969
11. George Lamb 10,510 metres, 1974 representing Leyland Motors AC
12. Charles Lamb 10,310 metres, 1974 representing Leyland Motors AC
13. Vic Murray 6m 038y, 1954 and 6m 1159y, 1955
14. Fred Pearce Jnr 10,475 metres, 1972
15. Jack Sankey 7m 385y, 1961
16. Dick Smith 7m 076y, 1954
17. Greg Smith 6m 1747y, 1968
18. Tony Taylor 6m133y, 1963
19. Ron Wallwork 7m 1297y, 1961
20. Steve Uttley 12,039 metres 1980

In addition Ron Wallwork, Ian Garmston and Steve Uttley competed in the Hour event when it was taken over by the Woodford AC in the early 1980s – Ron 11,922 metres, 1983 and 11,262 metres. 1985; Ian 11,515, 1985; and Steve 12,376 1985.

Sadly the historic Highgate tradition came to a close in 1989. The One Hour meeting was organised by Highgate Harriers until 1981.Thereafter it was advertised in Race Walking Record as under Woodford Green’s wing. However perusing Records it looks to have struggled or gone out of fashion during the 80s with Highgate promoting the 1988 edition, the Essex League doing so in 1989 and Loughton AC in 1990. Ron can find no record of the event in the 1990’s. He seems to recall that Cambridge Harriers possibly under the banner of the Southern RWA promoted a couple in the 2000’s but no results have been found. Ron opines that the Record in the early 2000’s was more glossy, if and when it came out, than informative.

Lancashire Best Performances

a] All of the following have been members of the Lancashire Walking Club. Because of the internal trials and tribulations of the 1970s, which split LWC for a short time, some performances were achieved wearing the colours of other local clubs e.g. Tony Taylor [Blackburn Harriers], Tony Malone [Stockport AC], Eric Crompton [Leyland Motors AC]. Missing at the moment is a 13km + performance by Chris Harvey from 1980 in Bourgos, France, for which we are still searching. As it is, thanks to Tony Malone, we’ve unearthed a 1978 Stretford performance of 13,185 metres – see below.

b] It would be revealing to identify the age of each of the athletes as an alternative means of comparison and we’ll pursue that further. Some dates of birth might be difficult to trace. As a personal example I was just twenty seven years old when I broke the 13,000 metres barrier. Forty two years later at the celebration of Ron Wallwork’s 2 Hours UK record, aged sixty nine, we can estimate I covered around 10,350 metres. How do these efforts stack up against one another? Enter the age-grading formula – for another day!

c] Obviously I have converted for ease the imperial distances to the metric equivalent. I should now do it the other way round. Indeed converting the kilometres and metres to miles and yards gives the data a historical context, especially as managing 6, 7 or 8 miles in the hour were the yardsticks of progress and achievement. Ron’s 1965 Leeds performance converted below was measured at 8 miles 240 yards. Two years later at Leverhulme Park, Bolton he recorded 8 miles 235 yards!

1. Chris Harvey 13,185 metres, Stretford 1978
2. Ron Wallwork 13,093 metres, Leeds 1965
3. Tony Taylor 13,060 metres, Marly, France 1974
4. Tony Malone 12,799 metres, Stretford 1979
5. Eric Crompton 12,531 metres, Highgate 1973
6. Steve Uttley 12,376 metres, Woodford 1985
7. Julian Hopkins 12,206 metres, Highgate 1969
8. Mike Hatton 12,189 metres, Blackburn 1968
9. Guy Goodair 12,121 metres, Bolton 1967
10. Steve Crow 11,869 metres, Highgate 1969
11. Harold Harwood 11,754 metres, Highgate 1951
12. Jack Sankey 11,617 metres, Highgate 1961
13. Chris Bolton 11,566 metres, Highgate 1972
14. Ian Garmston 11,515 metres, Woodford 1985
15. Dave Vickers 11,466 metres, Blackburn 1968
16. Mike Entwistle 11,381 metres, Blackburn 1968
17. Maurice Ireland 11,349 metres, Stretford 1979
18. Dick Smith 11,334 metres, Highgate 1954
19. Roy Higgins 11,315 metres, Highgate 1971
20. Greg Smith 11,253 metres, Highgate 1968
21. John Todd 11,174 metres, Bolton 1967
22. Ian McVitie 11,053 metres, Stretford 1979
23. Ron Marsden 10,950 metres, Sretford 1979
24. Fred Pearce jnr 10,803 metres, Bolton 1967
25. Roy Gunnett 10,775 metres, Ilford 1974
26. Alan Hardman 10,730 metres, Bolton 1967
27. Alan Hudson 10,715 metres, Blackburn 1968
28. Vic Murray 10,715 metres, Highgate 1955
29. George Lamb 10,510 metres, Highgate 1974
30. Adrian Edwards 10,344 metres, Bury 2017
31. Charles Lamb 10,310 metres, Highgate 1974
32. Dave Grindley 10,159 metres, Bolton 1967
33. Gordon Brown 9,900 metres, Highgate 1969
34. Frank Dolan 9,768 metres, Blackburn 1968
35. Tom Dunn 9,744 metres, Highgate 1959
36. Tony Bell 9,618 metres, Bury 2016
37. Peter Crahan 9,235 metres, Bury 2016
38. Dave Crompton 9,127 metres, Bury 2017
39. John Crahan 9,101 metres, Bury 2016
40. Roy Gunnett 9,040 metres, Bury 2016
41. Nigel Shaw 9,033 metres, Bury 2024
42. Joe Hardy 8,836 metres, Bury 2017
43. Ian Hilditch 8,686 metres, Bury 2017
44. Martin Payne 8,676 metres, Bury 2025
45. Sailash Shah 8,663 metres, Bury 2016
46. Jan McCue [W] 8,446 metres, Bury 2017
47. Alf Short 8,301 metres, Bury 2016
48. Phil McCullagh 8,271 metres, Bury 2016
49. Steven Wilde 8,172 metres, Bury 2024
50. Pat Evans [W] 8,155 metres, Bury 2021
51. John Payn 7,803 metres, Bury 2016
52. Andrea Lennon [W] 7,621 metres, Bury 2017
53. Jane Pouncy [W] 7,200 metres, Bury 2017
54. John Pouncy 7,114 metres, Bury 2016

A 1967 One Hour anecdote from my dad, Alf Taylor, which appeared in the club magazine, ‘CONTACT’.

Thanks are due to Ron Wallwork for much of the delving. There are likely to be mistakes and omissions, notice of which will be very much welcomed – send to tonymtaylor@gmail.com