Australia. Chris duly qualified as an Australian Centurion (Aus C11) and became the first walker to be a member of three different Brotherhoods of Centurions. In 1976 the Centurions once again attempted to arouse more interest by holding a meeting prior to the Imber Court race in January, unfortunately the result was similar to the previous year. There was some discontent from the captain Hew Neilson C145, when a resolution was passed to reimburse him with the costs of producing and posting his excellent Christmas letter. He said it was his contribution to the society he held so dear and refused the offer of payment. In May, Charlie Megnin C288 organised and promoted a 24 hour track race at Woodford Green. 23 started and a ding dong battle, reminiscent of the 1960 race, was fought out between Colin Young C317 and Derek Harrison C466, the result being a win for Harrison with 131 miles 336 yards, only 9 yards better than Colin Young’s performance in the 1960 race, for third on the all time British list. Young finished just over 2 miles behind. Harrison’s times at 150 and 200 km were submitted and ratified as British records, even though they were slower times than Neilson would have put up in the 1960 race where times were not taken at these distances. 15 completed 100 miles, 8 of them for the first time, with 6 of the 15 going on to complete the 24 hours.
completed the 24 hours but failed to reach the 100 mile mark.
C375, at the age of 75, completed his 10th 100 to become only the 4th Centurion to reach double figures, but more remarkable is the fact that his first completion was achieved at the age of 65. The biennial Leicester to Skegness race was held as usual on the last weekend of July. The
Hew Neilson C145 and Paul Sargent C430 also In this race Eddie McNeir
field of 57 included 31 Dutchmen plus a few other overseas walkers, so the British walkers were outnumbered by almost 2 to 1.
The winner in a time of 17 hours, 15 minutes 50
seconds was Derek Harrison who joined the very exclusive band of Centurions who had won on both road and track, his second victory in the same year! Despite the very cold night, the new ruling that ‘shorts must be worn throughout the race’ was strictly upheld, nevertheless 38, exactly two thirds of the field made it to the finish line. 20 of them were Dutch, one of them being Willem Mansveld C411 who completed his 10th 100 from 10 starts, 1 was French and one was from Denmark, another new country to add to the list. The remaining 16 were British, eight of them from the promoting club who closed two teams.
Of the 14 new
Centurions six were Dutch, bringing their numbers up to 98. At the AGM in September, the question of dwindling finances was once again discussed
but the major discussion was on the subject of wearing tracksuit bottoms. The Centurions would make representations to the RWA rules committee as this ruling could not have been intended to apply to ultra distance events, in fact Charlie Shelly C356 stated that he would not promote the Bristol 100 if this rule had to be strictly applied. In May 1977, the second Dutch 100 mile race was held at St. Oedenrode. One of the competitors was a British woman, Ann Sayer. She was an experienced fell and cross country walker, but this was her first actual race. She completed the race in 21 hours and 46 minutes to become the first British lady to become a Continental Centurion. Also taking part in this event was triple Centurion, Chris Clegg C135 who completed the race to become a quadruple Centurion!
The third edition of the Bristol 100 was held on 14th-15th October, when 84 walkers faced the starter, His Grace the Duke of Beaufort. The winner for the second year in succession was Derek Harrison C466 in 17 hours 43 minutes.
For the first time in British 100 mile
history, two women were allowed to complete on equal terms with the men, they were Ann Sayer and Dianne Pegg. Both of them duly completed to number amongst the 56 finishers, but their performances were recorded separately at the end of the race results. Is this
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