First novice lady Terri Salmon and overall winner Michael George
Leading three walkers in the group Helen Clague (688), Bethany Clague (749) and Brian Johnson (693)
Sarah Goldsmith, Leslie Dacre & Rod Phillips with Michael & Irene George and Lyndsey Walker (678) behind
Lynne Quine (675), Brian Cowley (690), Caroline Cain (734) & Seamus Hogan (691)
all above photo’s by Marie Latham
Marie Latham & Lauren Whelan in the Half Hour Challenge
‘Team Green Welbeck’ from the event sponsors ‘The Welbeck Hotel & Restaurant’
(Thanks to Michael George for supplying the above two photo’s)
Results and report by Bridget Kaneen
An excellent entry of 42 walkers turned out for the
Welbeck Hotel and Restaurant sponsored One Hour Challenge Walk event in perfect conditions
on Sunday morning.The main event attracted 28 walkers most being
relative newcomers to the sport.
Two of our top junior performers also had a go
at racing for an hour, Robert Moore going furthest with 11090
metres Emma Latham also moves up to 10k next season and
this outing was ideal preparation for her as she doubles her usual racing
distance. John Cannell was another in the field not surprisingly judged as a
non novice, and it was good to see the former Commonwealth athlete taking part in
his first event for quite some time.
It was fitting perhaps that the furthest distance
covered by a genuine novice was by race sponsor Michael George who along
with several generations of his family supported the event in great numbers and were all dressed up in ‘team green
Welbeck’ shirts.
Michael made his first walking appearance in the at
St.Johns Winter League race in December last year and has been an enthusastic
supporter of walking events ever since. Making a steady start he soon cut his
way through the field finishing just over 100 metres short of the 10k mark. He
will no doubt make short work of breaking the hour for 10k in his next few
outings.
Tony Callister walked well and worked hard
throughout the whole hour and was rewarded as second novice, and he was in turn half
a lap clear of third novice Andrew Boardman who just pipped David James by a
miniscule 2 metres.
Furthest walker of the lady novices was Terri
Salmon registering a half lap advantage over joint second placers, mother and
daughter combination of Helen and Bethany Clague. Terri showed a good technical
ability and was only 265 metres short of the 9k mark when the gun was fired to
mark the end of the race and is sure to improve further over the winter if she
should continue with her walking.
In the supporting half hour event. non novice Marie
Latham made a pleasing return from a shin injury picked up in the End to End
race and proving that she is still pretty sharp was well in to her sixth
kilometre at the finish.
The next three to finish are not strictly novices
either but they are all young junior walkers and all going in to unknown
territory distance wise. Lauren Whelan did superbly well to record over the 5km
mark proving that her endurance is equal to her speed a shorter distances.
Likewise Sinead Kaneen and Kirsty Taylor both walked in excess of 4km without
any loss of form. Harry Crompton was the 4th to finish registering 3k at the
finish.
Terence George took a leaf out of his dads book and
was the fastest finisher in the junior 800m race which was aimed at the newer
and younger walkers, closely followed by improving walker Jessica Isherwood and
newcomer Alex Norris with his sister Kate showing a natural flair for walking
and just six seconds behind her older brother. Lucy George and Tom Partington finished just inside
the six minute mark with Millie Row and Emily Brennan just outside six minutes.
James Kershaw was the 4th boy to finish, a further 30 seconds in
arrears.
Many thanks to all the officials for their hard
work during the event as well as the many ‘old hands’ who came along to support
all those taking part. Also thanks to the Welbeck Hotel & Restaurant for
sponsorship of the event as well as providing extra prizes for the junior
walkers.
The next event on the calendar is the Friends
Provident International Winter League. The first round on Sunday 23rd October is a scratch
race and starts at the N.S.C. perimeter roadway, with signing on at the Manx
Harriers clubhouse from 9.30am. Events are senior 10km or 5km and junior 3km or
1km. Walkers of all ages and abilities will be made welcome and entries are £3
per round for seniors and £1 for juniors.
Robert Moore (694), Tony Callister (692), Andrew Boardman (748), Emma Latham (671) & John Cannell (731)
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