Hodkinson. The team winners were Leicester who received a shield presented by Tom Reynolds C116. At the A.G.M. held in October, the secretary informed the meeting that a new handbook up to and including the 1978 race had been printed, as
expected there was no financial
contribution from the Dutch Centurions but they had purchased a number of books. All of the Centurion papers had been received from Mrs. Slaughter, but there was great concern that the first two minute books were not amongst the paperwork. The secretary then went on to give a report on the progress of the Centurion badges. He stated that the cost of each badge was currently £14.40, an increase of more than £4.00 since the first quotation only 4 months earlier and that a cheaper alternative would have to be found for the future. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that the new qualifiers from the 1979 race should receive the existing silver badge. As there were 11 badges in stock, only 26 would need to be purchased at a cost of approx. £370.00. However if all 37 had needed to be purchased the cost would have been in the region of £530.00, a sum the Centurions could not possibly afford for future events if the increase in numbers were to continue at the same alarming rate. The secretary was instructed to place an order for the 26 new badges, and so C587 would be the last of the original silver badges. The matter of a new cheaper design was left in the hands of a small sub-committee headed by the secretary. The new Centurions were then formally elected but none were presented with their badges as it would have been unfair to present the 11 badges that were available but not the others. As the year drew to a close the badge manufacturers, Haseler & Restall finally submitted an estimate for new badges, this time silver plated at a cost of £2.90 each on a bulk rate of 200, and confirmed that they were in possession of our die, but there was no news of the new badges for those Centurions who had been waiting almost 6 months since qualifying.
The Eighties - a Time of Change
If 1979 had started badly, then 1980 would follow suit when the death in early January, at the age of 91 was announced of Billy Baker C66, the Brighton and Back record-holder. The problems over the badges for 1979 continued amid much correspondence and were finally resolved when they were delivered in April, 10 months after the event. The problem now was how best to present them. With so many having to go overseas, it was decided that it would be unsafe to entrust such a valuable cargo to the postal service, and so they would be presented at the Leicester race, more than a year after they were earned. The new style Leicester race took place on 25th-26th July when 98 walkers faced the starter, a new record for a Leicester race. The race started from the town centre and proceeded west for 13 miles to join a 10 mile circuit just outside the village of Congerstone. After 7 laps of this circuit the walkers would retrace their steps back to the start: 64 were successful in this event. The winner for a record breaking sixth time in his career was Dave Boxall C464 by just under 20 minutes from the first of 28 new Centurions, Tony Collins C688 of Birmingham. The time gap and even the result might have been different but for the fact that Tony went off course during the night, costing him about 8 minutes. Freddie Baker C266 completed his 10th 100 and there were 4 new Dutch Centurions, bringing their total up to 125, 17% of the registered members. At the general meeting held in September, the first recorded payment from the benevolent
fund which was started almost 50 years earlier, was made when the meeting agreed to send £10.00 to Jim “Whiskers” Marriot C265 who was seriously ill. A report was given on the badge situation. Messrs Haseler & Restall did finally produce the badges for the 1979 race,
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