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.

 

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