In the case of Tom Hammond (1908) there was only one amateur record of note, that of Fowler-Dixon (1877), 100 miles in 20h 36m 08s, there were of course professional records of both time and distance, but these could not be considered as this was an amateur race.
It is
known from the reports of his race that he had a few bad patches during the race, which are believed to be mainly in the later stages. He had taken the lead in his race at 30 miles and by maintaining a pace of just over 5 miles an hour, he was never passed.
It seems that he was
attempting to set figures at 5 mile intervals but may well have miscounted his laps on this 586 yard circuit. For instance his 84th mile was done in 10 min 41 sec, the 85th took 17 min 33 secs. Tom Richardson (1936) had only one thing in mind – to win the 100 mile race and hopefully set up an unbeatable target for others to follow. Such was his effort that when he reached 100 miles he had to rest for a few minutes before starting off again and then retiring at exactly 18 hours.
Hammond, but only in estimated terms.
Henri Caron (1950) was aware of the records of Richardson and His priorities were to attack the record held by his
countryman Florimond Cornet and the specific kilometre time records. In this endeavour he was successful at 14, 15 and 16 hours and 140km. It would appear that after setting these records he had a problem or had to take a short rest. His time at 150km was 16h 35m 05s, it had taken him 35 minutes to cover the last 1.3 Km (approx. 1 mile)! Up until 16 hours he had been in front of Richardson’s records. At 100 miles he was 12min 45secs behind, but then 160.9344 km has no particular significance to a Frenchman. Hew Neilson had only one thing on his mind, that was to win the race, especially bearing in mind the quality of the opposition. He had won a road race and had completed more races of 100 miles or over than any other British walker. The only thing he had not done was to win on the track, which is where he made his debut in 1948. He was aware of the records held by Caron and Richardson, but treated the beating of them as a bonus if that was what it would take to win the race. At 80 miles he was ahead of Richardson but slightly behind Caron. By 90 miles he was just under 2 minutes in front of Caron, by 100 miles his lead over Caron was almost 29 minutes, adding further weight to the assumption that Caron must have stopped for a while. Neilson’s pace so far had been consistent throughout the race. Colin Young is the only walker in this table of figures that did not set any records, due no doubt to the present of Neilson in the same race. His objective, like Neilson’s, was to win the race, but he had a more pressing task to fulfil first, that was to complete 100 miles and in so doing, qualify for membership of the Centurions. He was the only person to qualify from this race and became one of the few Centurions in this handbook to have a race heading to himself. From a steady start he gradually gained ground on the leaders, and by 50 miles he was in front of the old figures set up by Hammond in 1908, a position he maintained throughout the race, however he remained approx. mile behind Richardson and the same 2 miles behind Neilson, who he was gaining on slightly with each lap. In a 24 hour race, fortunes can change quite easily and it is usually the last few hours where the race is won or lost, or records are broken. In his race, Hammond kept up his steady pace, attacking at 5 mile intervals. His 125th mile took 10min 45secs, the 126th was 14min 05secs, but it was in the last hour that he made the maximum effort, covering more than 5 miles to set a record that would last for 42 years. With Richardson retiring in 1936 the next records to be set were by Percy Reading (1946). At 100 miles he was more than 23 minutes behind Richardson but more importantly he was about 5 minutes ahead of Hammond. He managed to maintain his pace for the next 2 hours setting new records (by about 200 yards) at 19 hours, 110 miles and 20 hours. Thereafter his pace dropped and he was unable to get back in front of Hammond. Caron, having got over his obvious problems earlier in his race, was now going all out for the 200km record and Hammond’s distance record of 212.964km. He was successful in his efforts and set new figures for 19 hours and 110 miles upwards, in addition to those for 170 – 210km.
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