The New Year and a New Turnaround

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Tony Taylor

Dave Evans reports:

Turning around the triangular island for the first time

The first live race of the new year at our most regular venue brought together 12 stalwarts in what could be described as cool conditions, thankfully not accompanied by snow or rain. A welcome back to Adrian Edwards who is returning to training after a short break and it was he who lead the field of 9 aspirants across the first stretch of 5k. Heaton Park , where we have our “out” post , was very busy with the Manchester cross country league plying their trade and over running the paths and park roads.

Nigel in pursuit of Tony Bell
So too, Phil chasing Roy Gunnett

Despite this our flag bearers managed to avoid any collisions and as they passed the timekeeper 15 minutes later it was Adrian in first place(31 01), Tony Bell a close second(31 02)and Nigel Shaw only 6 seconds adrift. This is where Adrian finished his day’s racing leaving Tony and Nigel to fight out the winner’s spot. The remaining 6 competitors were not too far adrift from each other with Roy Gunnett setting sail for home tailed by Phil McCullagh. In their wake Greg, Pat and Steve were securing their positions with Joe Hardy valiantly hanging on despite a muscle injury.

Greg, 16 kilometres and a few photos in the bank!!
Joe somewhat hampered by injury

With the new start giving the officials a long sight of the finishers it was going to be a bit nip and tuck but Tony seized the initiative and used his inate speed to draw the sting out of Nigel’s challenge. At the finish there was only 14 seconds in it for the top two with Roy seizing a solid third . On a cold day the gaps are usually quite large but all survived with no safety issues.

RESULTS
10k

1. Tony Bell 62:30(31 02)
2. Nigel Shaw 62:44(31 08)
3. Roy Gunnett 74:28(36:41)
4. Phil McCullagh 74:49(37:30)
5. Greg Smith 77:53(37:34) After a 6k warm up !
6. Joe Hardy 83:20(40:28)

Pat sets the best age-graded clocking

5k

1. Adrian Edwards 31:01
2. Pat Evans 37:48
3. Steve Wilde 38:18

Handicap

Tony Bell receives the Sam Shoebottom Trophy

1.Tony Bell 62:15
2. Phil McCullagh 62:34
3. Nigel Shaw 62:44
4. Greg Smith 64:38
5. Roy Gunnett 66:13
6. Joe Hardy 69:35
7. Adrian Edwards
8. Pat Evans
9. Steve WildeAngel

Andrea and Joe, clearly amused!

Age-graded

Pat Evans 78:09%

Roy Gunnett 76:07%

Tony Bell 74.43%

Nigel Shaw 74:19%

Adrian Edwards 73:38%

Joe Hardy 72:42%

Greg Smith 67:79%

Phil McCullagh 66:34

Steven Wilde 64:00%

Sailash, dresssed for his marshalling endeavours

My thanks to Sailash for manning the park turnaround and Chris Harvey for photos and deputy timekeeping . Andrea Lennon provided verbal support having had to withdraw from the race whilst recovering from a medical procedure. Thanks to Pat for the refreshments


The next race at Chorley in March should see an improvement in the race numbers.

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Sam Shoebottom 10 kilometres, February 1st at Simister – back to racing live but don’t forget your virtual January exploit

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Tony Taylor

Everything is in place for the much awaited first club race of 2025, the Sam Shoebottom 10 kilometres. As usual it will take place from the Lady Wilton Hall, Simister, Manchester M25 2SB, starting at 1.00 p.m. As always it will be helpful if you can let Dave know if you are able to attend and in what capacity at dave.evans08@hotmail.co.uk.

Meanwhile I await your January Virtual 5 km times with bated breath. As things stand only a trickle of submissions have been received.

CLOCKINGS FOR THE JANUARY VIRTUAL 5 KILOMETRES TO BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 31st. ANECDOTES AND PHOTOS ONCE AGAIN WELCOMED.

THESE SHOULD BE SENT TO TONY at tonymtaylor@gmail.com

If you need inspiration, see below photos taken by Greg Smith on January 12th at Woodbank Park before a %k effort on the track

Adrian and Roy clearing a path!!

Brave souls indeed!

Interestingly Nigel Shaw in submitting his latest clocking talked about the dilemma of finding an effective balance between stride length and cadence. By chance I found this piece by Julian Hopkins in a 1979 Athletics Weekly.

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SEEING IN THE NEW YEAR 1960 and 1967

Posted on January 4, 2025 by Tony Taylor

Back in 1960 club members were a keen lot, turning out for three races in January, the first on the day after New Year’s Day! Of those involved perhaps only Ron Wallwork and Chris Bolton are still with us

Seven years later the stalwarts of the club competed on New Year’s Eve in a walk/run race against Bolton United Harriers. All I remember is being sick twice or thrice on the downhill back. Complaints, that Mick Entwistle was an under-age drinker and should be disqualified, fell on stony ground.

Where the thirst was quenched!

Report uncovered by Ron Wallwork. Chris Bolton comments that all competitors got a prize. He won a pair of shoe laces!

CLOCKINGS FOR THE JANUARY VIRTUAL 5 KILOMETRES TO BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 31st. ANECDOTES AND PHOTOS ONCE AGAIN WELCOMED.

THESE SHOULD BE SENT TO TONY at tonymtaylor@gmail.com

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With one foot on the ground a New Year beckons

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Tony Taylor

It’s difficult in a world stalked by evil to think clearly about our athletic and race walking hopes and aspirations. Nevertheless let me wish all the club’s members and our wider readership the very best for the coming year. In the traditional turn of phrase, let ‘peace and goodwill’ abound. It’s much needed. Hopefully Marilyn Taylor’s watercolour, a ‘Winter Landscape’ conveys a sense of how beautiful the world can be. In fact it’s actually an image of a path along which I regularly trained back in the day, certainly fifty years ago.

CLOCKINGS FOR THE JANUARY VIRTUAL 5 KILOMETRES TO BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 31st. ANECDOTES AND PHOTOS ONCE AGAIN WELCOMED.

It seemed a nice idea to open with a flashback to fifty years ago. In his first race walking column of 1955 the legendary Alf McSweeney, the very first editor of the Race Walking Record in 1941, gave his thoughts on the possibility of fast times in a forthcoming National 10 miles championships to be held in Southport, “the fashionable Lancashire seaside resort”.

This excerpt is taken from the remarkable treasure trove, that is the Athletics Weekly Archive at https://athleticsweekly.com/aw-archive-membership/. For a measly £3.99 a month you gain access to copies of AW going back to 1945. Treat yourself!

In fact the National at Southport was shrouded in controversy with Lo Allen and Dick Holland of Sheffield being disqualified whilst in the leading places. Nevertheless with Roland Hardy and Albert Johnson at the helm, Sheffield still won the team title. Alf McSweeney’s report contains a closing gem of a paragraph.

LWC positions: 15. Terry Hardie 82:29; 39. Dick Smith 85:49; 46 T.N.Daly 87:13; 79 John Grocott 91:35; 80 T.W.Mills 91:53; 81 J.Percival 92:10; 88 Frank O’Neill 92:55; 95 Sid Smith 95:21; 98 Vic Murray 96:47; 100 Dick Ditchfield 97:13; 111 Fred Pearce 101:58; 112 Cliff Royle 102:40; Sam Shoebottom 104:38; 118 H. Frith 106:52

JOHN PAYN

Dave Evans reports:

John is residing in a care home in Adlington, Chorley and just recently Steven Wilde has visited to check on his well-being . It seems he is in good heart although his former race-walking life is a memory. It seems John has endeavoured to use a wheeled version of a zimmer style contraption to race up and down some of the corridors, much to the disdain of the care home staff. The spirit of competition has not left the Payn household and it’s very comforting to realise that our centurion has retained his ability to set new goals. We don’t know just how constraining the care home environment is and when you were once the oldest person to gain centurion status the urge to pursue any target must be foremost in your mind. We all wish John the very best and grateful thanks to Steven for checking in with John before Christmas. Merry Christmas to John and all of our club members and guest visitors.

John, quite properly number 001, in one of his last races a few years ago at Culgaith, pacing the young lady and her dog

John Crahan adds the following anecdote:

I have many fond memories of John ,including walking with him on the old Macclesfield course. He stopped with me for 2 laps before explaining he had not been well and wanted to walk with someone who could carry him to the finish. He left me on the last lap at the Garden Centre and beat me by nearly four minutes
With sincere best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all members and friends

It strikes me that we are long overdue a post celebrating John’s achievements as a Veteran and a Master’s competitor. I’ll put my mind to it.

JULIAN HOPKINS

Julian, a former National coach, is still in the Aintree University Hospital following his dramatic stroke in late October. His progress is uneven but his spirits bolstered by the large number of supportive messages from across the race walking world. Only a week ago he was visited by Roger Mills, the 1974 European 20 kilometres bronze medallist. On this occasion Roger’s presence certainly energised Julian and they enjoyed an animated trip down memory lane. In fact a photo of Roger, who often won the poll for the stylist of the year, adorned the cover of Julian’s outstanding 1976 book, ‘Race Walking’.

Here’s hoping that the New Year sees Julian back on his feet, talking ten to the dozen as his wont and present at one of our club races. We send him our very best wishes.

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DEFYING THE ELEMENTS AT THE XMAS HANDICAP

Posted on December 10, 2024 by Tony Taylor

With Dave and Pat Evans trapped by high winds in the Lakes. Roy Gunnett and Greg Smith took the helm and, against the odds, managed to ensure that the Dick Maxwell and Xmas race went ahead as planned. You will note there are no live photos of the race itself. Circumstances did not allow.

Roy takes up the story.

Dick Maxwell 10k at Simister Saturday 7th December

As a result of Storm Darragh peaking at the same time as the race …..numbers were somewhat down on normal for the Dick Maxwell 10k.

The new start – not the most exciting image we’ve ever posted

A revised course was used for the first time for this race. The revision was made to improve the safety of the course by replacing the normal start, which is a pinch point for traffic, with one 294 metres further down the road where the road is wider.

The turnaround point in the park at the 2.5k mark was extended by the same 294 metres to cater for this.

Final confirmation of these measurements was made ahead of the race by Greg and Roy.

The new 2.5 km turn in Heaton Park see the yellow paint splodge. It must have been so tempting to turn around the triangle with the tree in the middle!!!

Six walkers toed the line for the start.

Right from the gun Nigel Shaw, in fine style,  went into the lead.

By the end of the first 5k lap Nigel extended his lead to 4 minutes and went through in 31:44, followed by Roy Gunnett in 35:53, Phil McCullagh and Steven Wilde together in 37:10, Joe Hardy in 38:18 and Greg Smith in 39:54.

Greg pulled out at this stage.

In the second half Nigel continued to pull away and won by over 10 mins in an excellent 63:00.

Roy in second place was nearly beaten by a very fast finishing Steve.

Weatherwise it was a race of two halves …..for the first half the weather was not too bad, but for the second half Storm Darragh really hit with heavy rain and very strong gusty winds.

A huge thankyou, (especially in the atrocious conditions) must be made to the officials who made the race possible, namely Chris Harvey (Starter/finisher and timekeeper) and Sailash Shah (marshall at the turnround).

Roy reads the results and thanks all, who turned out, on and off the road

Following the race everyone was glad to get into the warm and dry hall (made even warmer by the new central heating boiler).

Who is missing?

Tea, mince pies and Christmas cake were extremely welcome.

And again, who is missing?

All the walkers came away with a prize,  courtesy to the generosity of Chris.

Nigel Shaw pleased with his first place

The general consensus was the new course was a success and it will be used in future. It was suggested that to improve safety even further we should use some high visibility road signs denoting that a race is in progress. Roy said he would look into purchasing these on behalf of the club.

Phil and Steve with weight-inducing prizes

Scratch Results

10km

Scratch

  1. Nigel Shaw                   63:00 -74.54
  2. Roy Gunnett                 73:20 77.25
  3. Steven Wilde                73:22 – 71:04
  4. Phil McCullagh            73:45 – 67:30
  5. Joe Hardy.                    78:10 – 77:21

5km

           Greg Smith.                     39:54

Handicap

  1. Phil McCullagh 60:39
  2. Steven Wilde 62:55
  3. Nigel Shaw 63:00
  4. Joe Hardy 66:10
  5. Roy Gunnett 67:2

Age-graded

  1. Roy Gunnett 77.25%
  2. Joe Hardy 77.21%
  3. Nigel Shaw 74.54%
  4. Steven Wilde 71.04%
  5. Phil McCullagh 67.30%
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MAJOR CHANGES TO RACE WALKING

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Tony Taylor

Thanks as ever to Dave Ainsworth for this significant news. My first reaction is lukewarm. Your thoughts appreciated.

Thanks to welshathletics.org

≡ WORLD ATHLETICS COUNCIL ≡

It’s not often that race walking draws headlines, but a major change and potentially momentous change in the walks was a highlight of the World Athletics Council meeting in Monaco:

“The World Athletics Council also approved the introduction of new official senior road distances for race walking events, in order to help put the remarkable achievements by athletes into context, make the events more relatable for fans, and encourage mass participation. The standard senior distances for race walking will therefore change from:

“● 20 km race walk to half marathon race walk (21.0975km)
“● 35 km race walk to marathon race walk (42.195km)

“These changes will be implemented starting 1 January 2026 in senior World Athletics Series events.”

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) explained: “I think we’ve made the right decision today to make it more relatable to Half Marathon and Marathon.

“The fact that you’ve got you’ve got race walkers that will cover that marathon distance in just under three hours, I think sort of places it into a greater context for people watching the event. Our attempts in all our innovations is to lend a little bit more understanding and context to to our fans, and we recognize that at the major games, a large chunk of our fan base that watching that are probably may well be watching the sport for the first time, so our innovation is there’s a very clear rationale behind it. It is to try and make more understandable, more salient, more relevant these events.”

The 20 km walk has been part of the Olympic program since 1956 for men and 2000 for women and the 50 km walk was a men’s event from 1932 to Tokyo 2020, but was not held at Paris 2024. World Athletics changed the 50 km event to 35 km for men and women for the 2022 World Championships.

Now, all of these events are out and the new half marathon and marathon distances will be installed. As for the status of these new distances in the Olympic Games, Coe noted:

“I think that is a question that is best directed at the [IOC] Program Commission and the Sports Department. What we’ve said is race walk is secure in our World Championships.”

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Dick Maxwell and Xmas 10km at Simister, Saturday December 7th

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Tony Taylor

Everything is in place for a successful end to our year’s fixtures on Saturday, December 7th in Simister. The village hall with a new central heating boiler installed will be open from 11.30 a.m. and the race proper will commence at 1.00 p.m. However, in an experiment to ease problems experienced in the narrow stretch of road out and back from the usual start outside the hall, we are going to begin and end the event on either the motorway bridge or opposite the Farmer’s Arms. Obviously this will mean the course will venture further into the park before the 2.5km turn. Huge thanks to Roy Gunnett, who will be measuring in advance the possible changes.

Heading towards the turn in Heaton Park

As is usual it would be really helpful to let Dave Evans know if you are able to attend and in what capacity – see dave.evans08@hotmail.co.uk

The club always tried to hold a race near to Xmas. Indeed the now sadly defunct Yorkshire Race Walking Club held an annual Boxing Day event for many years. I’ll try to dig out the results of some past Xmas races. One difficulty is that the formidable Jim Hackwood of the Sheffield club was the Northern correspondent to the Record for years and was said to overlook from time time Lancashire results! More seriously it underlines the tragedy of losing decades of club minutes and recordings. In the meantime here are four December results from 1959, 1960, 1964 and 1966.

1959

Ron, Mike, Jack and ? in a club race of the era

1960

1964

1966

Thanks as ever to Dave Ainsworth for this BBC Sounds link to an interview on BBC Radio Leeds on Alternative Sports – Race Walking

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0k6n31f

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Memories of Charlie ‘Iron Man’ Fogg

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Tony Taylor

Small World/Big Coincidence

Roy Gunnett expresses his surprise and delight:

As you might well know I work for a few hours each week in the Oxfam shop in Formby doing valuations on stuff that has been donated – such as watches and clocks, cameras, old coins, stamp albums, old toys and old photographs.

To my surprise I noticed that someone had donated a photograph of a group of policeman at Hendon Police Training college in 1971. On the far right (as you look at it) of the picture in a track suit is Charlie Fogg. What are the chances of that? It would be a big coincidence if it was in a London based charity shop – but for it to have landed up here in Formby I find astonishing. Unfortunately I do not know who donated it as it was in a bag of other stuff.

I shall always be grateful to Charlie for the fact that he allowed me and 2 other Enfield Walking Club members (Peter Worth and Trevor Parslow-Williams) in the early /mid 1970’s to use on a regular basis on Monday evenings the full range of splendid training facilities at the Hendon Police training centre.

I was saddened to hear about the death of Charlie a few years ago – a great character and the ‘iron man’ of UK race walking.

See the full article above at Tim’s Archives at the Victorian Race Walking website

This portrait appeared in October 1963 Race Walking Record

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Bill Jackson and AGM 5 kilometres, November 2nd

Posted on November 10, 2024 by Tony Taylor
Tony and Ken toe-to-toe

If not misty and moisty, a grey and gloomy day awaited the arrival of competitors, officials and supporters for the Bill Jackson 5 kilometres held in conjunction with the Club’s Annual General Meeting. Eleven sturdy souls toed the starting line including newcomer Alex Rowe, a marathoner of some repute.

Irene with the remarkable Eric Horwill
Roy safe in third

Fortunately, given the enforced absence of stalwarts, Dave and Pat Evans, a healthy number of supporters were available to fulfil the usual practical tasks.. Holding affairs together was the indispensable, distinguished figure of Eric Horwill, who had travelled by train from the Midlands, far from an easy journey, to be our timekeeper and recorder. Irene Pike and Christine Pearce kept him company and under manners, whilst Martin Payne and Sailash Shah, both injured, covered the twists and turns of the course. Chris Harvey and myself, something of spare parts, shouted encouragement and doled out bits of technical advice.

Greg leads from Steve and Joe approaching the turn
The duel between Ian and John continues

From the outset of the race a pattern was established. Tony Bell and Ken Connor fled the field and raced neck-to-neck or enjoyed a ding-dong battle, whichever cliche you prefer, through to the finish. By and large the rest followed in something of a procession, enlivened by two prolonged duels between, firstly Ian Hilditch and John Crahan, secondly Greg Smith and Steve Wilde. In the end Tony and Ken dead-heated for the honours, creating great excitement in the village. Such was the commotion that several drivers lost their bearings and proved to be a pain in the buttock for all competitors in the closing, narrow stages of the course – of which dilemmas more later.

Joe- a picture of concentration
Newcomer Alex sems to be enjoying himself


The race was followed by the AGM – with Greg Smith and Roy Gunnett leading the proceedings with aplomb and good humour. As ever, pithy asides were proffered by John Crahan, who recollected he had in the past competed gamely in the shot-put against the late, oft controversial Geoff Capes, twice a Commonwealth gold medallist.

I didn’t keep notes on the meeting but here are a few of the highlights.

Awards and Club representatives

Cliff Royle Silver Salver, which is awarded for the best long-distance performance by a Lancashire Walking – Roy Gunnett

A. J. Taylor Award, which goes to the best performance by a Lancashire Walking Club member. It can be objectively or subjectively ‘the best’ – Andrea Lennon

Chris Harvey was nominated to the honorary position of Club President and Ian Hilditch was appointed the club captain

News of members

The nonagenarian John Payn is alert and well, inhabiting evidently a rather small room in a Care Home, yearning to be on the road again. At some point we must pay homage to his remarkable achievements as a Masters Athlete.

Worryingly, Julian Hopkins, an outstanding member of the successful Club Team of yesteryear and a former National Coach suffered a stroke a fortnight before our meeting. He was not found for three days. Having visited him it was with some relief that I reported that he was able to converse in a typically. enthusiastic voice. It is too soon to know the extent of his recovery and the possibilities of independence. More to follow

Annual Subscriptions

There was a significant discussion about the relation between our Club subscription and the amount demanded by UK Athletics, namely £19. In addition there was an issue of 2ⁿᵈ claim members paying over the odds.. More on this in the future post. Meanwhile it was agreed that our Club subscription be increased to £25 per annum.

Course Concerns

Given there were some issues on the day about traffic on the Sinister course, a wider discussion ensued about the suitability of our present portfolio of venues. It was agreed we should give further thought to this question, bearing in mind the rich traditions connected to such venues as Simister, Sutton and Chorley. More to follow.

Andrea, the winner of this year’s AJ Taylor Award for the best performance of the year

HANDICAP

  1. Steve Wilde 29:01
  2. Tony Bell/Ken Connor 29:34
  3. Roy Gunnett 30:29
  4. Greg Smith 30:33
  5. Joe Hardy 31:44
  6. Ian Hilditch 32:04
  7. John Crahan 32:38
  8. Phil McCullagh 33:36
  9. Andrea Lennon 35:05
  10. Alex Rowe 35:17

AGE-GRADED

  1. Roy Gunnett 83.3%
  2. Joe Hardy 79.07%
  3. Ian Hilditch 78.48%
  4. Andrea Lennon 78.35%
  5. Tony Bell 75.50%
  6. Ken Connor 74.30%
  7. Greg Smith 72.42%
  8. Steve Wilde 71.09%
  9. John Crahan 69.35%
  10. Phil McCullagh 64.85%
  11. Alex Rowe 57.89%

Thanks to Martin Payne for the excellent photos.

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2025 FIXTURE LIST

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Tony Taylor

AGM race and meeting report plus further news to follow. For now to make them easy to find the 2025 Fixtures.

See this added date for the 100th Centurion 100 miles.

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