In the 1960 race, Colin Young, with his 100 miles safely behind him, kept his momentum to stay ahead of Hammond; and in so doing he was able to unlap himself 3 times from Neilson and also get ahead of the figures set by Reading. It was only in the last 20 minutes or so that he went behind Hammond’s figures to finish an annoying 253 yards short of the old record. In the meantime, Neilson, although slowing slightly, maintained his lead at the front of the race. His lead of 29 minutes over Caron at 100 miles was reduced to 8 minutes at 110 and 120 miles. By 125 miles it had come down to 4 minutes and with just over half an hour to go at 130 miles, to 1min 40secs. It was beginning to look like he would not capture the 24 hour record, but a last half hour at over 5 mph pace, meant that he finished 461 yards ahead of Caron. The records set by Hew Neilson in this remarkable race are shown in bold type. The list is not complete as he would have certainly broken some of the metric records, unfortunately it seems that times were not taken at metric distances. An interesting point to note about this race is that six of the Centurions who were there to witness it had also been present 52 years earlier when Tom Hammond set his records. Just for the record, Neilson whose name and initials have so often been wrongly recorded was christened, Hew Daniel Marcher Hunter NEILSON. Future historians please note. The euphoria of the Centurions in the records set or recaptured in 1960, and the fact that one of their number had taken part in the Olympic Games, was marred when the death in October, of their former secretary, Chas J. Culling was announced. At the beginning of 1961 there was some uncertainty, with no race planned it looked as if the 10 year run of a 100 mile race each year might be broken, that was until a group of enthusiasts from the Metropolitan Police, ‘K’ Division, decided to organise and promote a race. It was held on October 20th-21st from the Met. Police grounds at Chigwell, Essex. The race, held over a hard 10 lap course saw 19 of the 42 starters finish the course, the winner being Frank O’Reilly C276, in 18hrs 3mins 45secs.
Second was Hew Neilson, 1 hour 50
minutes behind and third was the ever improving John Eddershaw of the Sheffield Club, but the performance of the race must belong to C295, Les Dennis the St. Dunstaner, he finished fifth in just under 20 hours 50 minutes. 7 new men became Centurions and were presented with their badges at a Mansion House reception in February 1962, where Colin Young C317, also received his badge from the memorable 1960 track race. This ceremony was witnessed by one of the largest assemblies of Centurions and their friends ever gathered together and will long be remembered. On the 20th February, a finance sub-committee held a meeting to review expenditures and sources of income as there was a long standing rule that Centurions will not be required a pay a subscription. The first task of the treasurer at this meeting was to inform his fellow committee members of the death in a motor accident of J.P. Coopey, C323. He was not an outstanding athlete worthy of special mention, other than that afforded to all Centurions when the notification of their death is received. He is only mentioned here because he held the coveted silver badge for what must surely be the shortest time, having received it only 11 days earlier at the Mansion House presentations for the 1961 race. The third in the series of races from Leicester to Skegness was held on 6th-7th July, 26 of the
45 starters completed the race, 13 of them for the first time. The winner once again was Frank O’Reilly C276, making it 4 wins in successive years. As if that wasn’t remarkable enough, he completed the course in 16 hours 58 minutes, 16 seconds, the second sub 17 hour time in his outstanding career, and was still the only man to have beaten this time barrier. The Centurions meeting held in September was a mixture of good and bad news. A report was given of the sudden death of Vice-captain A.D. McSweeney C94, and the funeral service attended by many Centurions. On the brighter side, 4 of the most senior members, namely Bill Brown C12, Henry Swabey C13, Tim Payne C18 and T. C. Habishaw C25, were elected
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