Our Xmas race honours annually the terrific contribution made to our club by Dick Maxwell. However, while researching into our Centurion legacy, I alighted upon the result of the 1977 Bristol 100 miles event, which featured another Maxwell, namely Bill. Such a delightful character he was a product of the Leyland tradition, which deserves more attention in a future post. See the Bristol result below and note, of course, that Eric Crompton is another proud Leyland lad.

Correction from Jonathan Hobbs, gratefully received, as I am misinterpreting the Bristol result below. I blame the village red. Bill Maxwell had actually qualified as a Centurion in 1973, hence the Centurion number 509 after his name. This means that both Vic Murray and Dave Breen were becoming Centurions on that day – C612 and C617 respectively.

Added note from Steven Wilde, for which much thanks.

The ‘atmospheric’ photograph of Eric Crompton looked familiar to me as a Chorleian, and for what it’s worth, I am able to identify the precise location.
The 3 walkers are passing the main entrance to Astley Park, in Park Road, Chorley.
The dominant buildings on the left, now demolished, include the Odeon Cinema and Royal Oak Hotel.
The cyclist behind the walkers has just passed a building which was the birthplace of Sir Henry Tate who did well for himself in the sugar trade (Tate & Lyle) before establishing art galleries. There is now a Wetherspoons pub in the town named after him.

Dave Evans reports:

Not even the likely presence of driving rain and blustery winds prevented the Dick Maxwell Christmas walk from going ahead so 9 brave souls toed the starting line ready to face the elements. Injury and holiday commitments reduced the field somewhat.

Roy Gunnett continues in very good form but it was the following entourage that made the other places more unpredictable particularly with Dan Maskell joining us from Brighton.

At halfway in the 10k Roy was on course for a potential 70 minutes or less with Steve Wilde less than 100 metres in arrear. 46 seconds covered places 3 to 7 at the 5k turnaround so anything could happen.

Steve, Pat and Andrea concluded their race at this point leaving Dan, Glyn, Greg and Joe to complete the second part of the challenge.

Dan has recovered his form leading in Roy’s pursuers with an almost perfect split over the 10k distance. Phil McCullagh almost did the same while Glyn walked well giving years to his fellow walkers.

SCRATCH 10 Kilometres

1. Roy Gunnett 71:35(35:02/36:33)
2. Dan Maskell 74:00(36:59/37:01)
3. Phil McCullagh 74:11(36:59/37:12)
4. Glyn Jones 75:23(37:14/38:09)
5. Joe Hardy 75:56(38:25/37:31)
6. Greg Smith 78:12(37:39/40:33)
   

SCRATCH 5 Kilometres

1. Steven Wilde 35:29
2. Pat Evans 37:45
3. Andrea Lennon 45:38

HANDICAP 10 Kilometres

1. Dan Maskell 60:20
2. Roy Gunnett 65:00
3. Phil McCullagh 65:51
4. Glyn Jones 66:03
5. Joe Hardy 66:11
6. Greg Smith 68:42

AGE-GRADED

1. Glyn Jones 82.83%
2. Joe Hardy 80.84%
3. Roy Gunnett 80.35%
4. Andrea Lennon 79.77%
5. Pat Evans 79.51%
6. Dan Maskell 77.73%
7. Steven Wilde 71.49%
8. Greg Smith 68.44%
9. Phil McCullagh 67.72%

The opening highlight of the Christmas meeting was the awarding of Life Membership to Bill Cowley, Centurion number 319, now 93 years of age, who achieved this great feat in 1961. He is still mobile and we understand he is currently the second lowest centurion number holder . To make his appearance today he was brought to Simister by Chris Bolton, Centurion number 332, who is number 4 on the list of surviving centurions.

Our other special guest was Eric Crompton who has continued to give great service to Lancashire WC and he too was awarded Life Membership. Eric performed at a high level and was probably unlucky not have been awarded an international vest. We will detail the performances of both our new Life Members on the club website in due course.

As well as helping to officiate today we must thank Chris Harvey for his generosity providing six prizes for the race and Chris Bolton for not only helping with recording but also giving every attendee a large gold medal encompassing chocolate and wrapped in a pouch endorsed with the club logo. Many thanks to both for their generous support . Thanks also to Pat Evans for supervising the catering arrangements and Greg Smith for adding to the food pile !

Thanks as ever to Greg for the photos.

THE BRISTOL 100 MILES – 1977

Details re the January Virtual 5 kilometres to follow.