female Centurion when Adri van Dirven completed in 23 hours 9 minutes. There were now four countries in which one could qualify as a Centurion. The British race was the second edition of the Bristol 100 which was won by Dave Boxall
C464, for his second successive win. 53 started, 36 finished and 20 became new Centurions. 4 days before the AGM was held in November, one year after the death of former president E.H. Neville, the secretary informed a meeting of the offices that 51 nominations for president had been received from the 450 ballot papers that were sent out, the result being a tie at 12 votes each for T.W. Richardson C100 and J.G. Slaughter C218. The secretary Tod Slaughter declined the nomination and therefore Tom Richardson became the 4th President of the Centurions. The officers meeting also agreed that all officers should be re-elected annually.
At the AGM itself, the secretary informed the members of the result of the ballot and the
decision to re-elect annually. The officers proposed and it was agreed to abolish the offices of Life President and Life Vice-President. The existing officers were re-elected with the addition of Hew Neilson to replace Tom Richardson as captain.
12 Vice-Presidents were
elected, with those former Vice-Presidents who had passed away being struck from the record. One other item that was decided at this meeting, was that all existing Centurions should make a one off payment of £1.00 and all new Centurions £2.00, in order to receive circulars, notices etc., but that the tradition of presenting Centurion badges without charge to the new Centurions will be maintained. In April 1974, the death was announced of former Vice-Captain and former record holder, Percy Reading C121 the winner of the 1946 track race. His name will forever be kept alive, it being the first to be inscribed on the Hammond Trophy. It being an even year, the first weekend of August saw the ever popular Leicester to Skegness race well supported by 64 starters. 40 finished with 21 of them becoming new Centurions. The early and long time leader was a German walker who eventually fell foul of the judges, many at the time thought justifiably, and thus became only the second walker to be disqualified in a 100 mile race. This left the way clear for Peter Markham the leader of a strong squad of Leicester walkers, however he was soon overhauled by Dave Boxall C464 who went on to complete a hat-trick of victories in successive years. The Leicester Walking Club finished 7 of their walkers for a new club record in 100 mile racing, in fact they had 2 teams on the result sheet. The race also saw another new country added to the ever growing list when F. Weissenböck of Austria joined the ranks of the Centurions. Some might say that two new countries were added when Richard Vlotman, a South African born British national qualified, but the first South African and also British national citizen was A.H. Ch. St. Norman C50 who qualified in 1912. In an attempt to get more people to attend the AGM the 1975 meeting was held before the Metropolitan Police 7 mile race at Imber Court in January, it did not however have the desired effect. With such a short time interval since the previous meeting there was little to discuss but the secretary stressed that he would pursue the new Centurions from 1973 and 1974 for their £2.00 towards postage costs, and this action would continue to be taken for future new Centurions. The last weekend of June saw the second edition of the Ewhurst 100, promoted by Surrey
Walking Club. The winner in just under 18 hours was for the fourth year in succession, Dave Boxall C464, from a record field of 94 starters. The number of finishers was a record too, 56, with 36 of them from overseas. Of the 29 new Centurions the Dutch added 17 to their tally. In September, John ‘Paddy’ Dowling C331, who was well known for turning up for a race almost anywhere in France, took part in the Roubaix 28 hour event, where he put up a modest performance considering he was unsupported. Another Centurion who was doing his bit overseas was Chris Clegg C135, in fact he was as far overseas as one can get, Melbourne,
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