2011 Lingfield - Centurions1911

Lingfield 100 miles
The Lingfield 100 miles took place on 2nd - 3rd July 2011 in the Centenary year of the Brotherhood of Centurions.

First and foremost was the weathe :  Despite mixed forecasts - it actually did NOT rain!
Rain has indeed been a feature (part of the fixture and fittings, almost) of every 100 mile long distance championship race held in the UK for at least the last decade! One could even complain that it was too hot!

Over 80 walkers started the race - which must be a record turn out over the last few years. Although, it must be said, that for many it was indeed the starting of the race rather than "the seeing it through to the finish" which was the name of the game.
That said - there were an awful lot of surprises along the way!

A nice touch (thought up by Alan O'Rawe at the 2010 AGM) was the dedicated race number attributed to each of the participating Centurions own number.

As per usual the Dutch were in Lingfield in style!
Big kitchen and support staff, own timing clock and everyone with personalised T- shirts! How cool is that!
And, as per usual, there is such great camaraderie between the Ducth walkers and the English which makes the "100s" so special. And, of course, we extend that camaraderie to our Belgian and German friends as well!
What a race!

Apart from being amazing and winning the race in 19'04'07 - Bart Snoeren of club Dak Drunen seemed to lead from the start and seemed never to tire. It was a truly impressive performance. Bart qualified as a Continental Centurion (C268) so it is with great pleasure that we welcome him to the Brotherhood of Centurions in the UK.

Maybe partisan, but as one would expect, Sandra Brown C735 (SurreyWC) led the women home in 20:18:23 coming in second overall!
As ever, Sandra never ceases to amaze. It did appear to be an effortless performance throughout the entire race. (Perhaps the answer is an alpine walk a few days leading up to the race! - which is, of course, is exactly what Sandra (and Richard) did: Mont Blanc anyone?)

It was a mixed bag of walkers who started at 2pm on Saturday. Some old friends who had (almost) hung up their long distance shoes, some race walkers who had never tried long/ultra distance before and others, whilst walking long distances had never race-walked before.

The course was a road on the inside of the all weather horse racing track and the circuit measured 1907.5 metres. A welcome feature was the use of chip timing although manual back-up was provided "just in case". It was easy enough to go to the timing van and just key-in the walkers race number to get an update on the lap times. What would have even been better was the provision of a leader board or print outs of race positions throughout the 24 hours.
Whilst traffic free, it was also exposed and nothing is perfect - breezy at one side of the circuit changing to being very humid at the other side! You just can't win!

The facilities at Lingfield were good even though it was a bit of a hike from the race circuit. but portaloos were provided close to the track. The lack of lighting made judging very difficult and supporters couldn't see to attend to their walkers very well. The lucky few were the ones who brought torches!
After a cold night the sun was shinining early Sunday morning and the temperature rose steadily until after midday. This in itself took its toll as a couple of walkers collapsed.

David Jones (Redcar) C.987 suffered a broken blood vessel in his foot and thinking it was only a blister he carried on walking - finshing 17th in 21:38:13. Dave was taken off to hospital after the finish.

Two ladies who won everyone's hearts were Tara and Wendy of the Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA). They talked and laughed (and ate!) their way round 100 miles finishing in 21:33:55. Some said that they should have been disqualified for enjoying themselves too much! Their performance was a great credit to themselves and to the LDWA coming joint 14th overall. Read "Tara&Wendy's" report

Sarah Lightman of Leicester WC was another newcomer to the 100 finishing in 22:55:58 and coming 23rd overall and 7th female finisher.

Alan O' Rawe C.791 just wanted to start the race and "do a few miles" - well depending on the interpretation of "few" - he managed to clock up 120km and was still on his feet at the end. He did suffer, but hopefully Alan thought it was all worth it to be part of this historic race.

Another veteran Centurion was Jack Rose (M70) C517 who dug out his trainers for this race and completed just over 80km (50miles) with some very credible lap times.

Surrey Walking Club man, Ian Statter C.968, a previous winner of the 100 miles, was first British man home (7th overall) in 21:12:25. Very close behind him in 8th place was Kevin Marshall C1001 in 21:25:20

Andrew Titley C.1038 from the Isle of Man finished 24th with a good performance of 22:57:05. It was good to see Andrew competing in England again.

Paul King C.972 walked well and maintained his style throughout the race slowing down only in the last few hours. His fastest last was the last lap - done in 13 mins 51s which enabled Paul to finish in 23 hours 57 minutes 20 seconds. Phew, that was close!
Another walker loyal to the 100 miles was Redcar's Martin Fisher C.788. He timed his race perfectly to finish in 23:53:31!!

Serena Queeney has attempted the 100 several times and never quite made it. Only back from the Australian 100 at the end of April - she gave it another go. Perhaps it was too soon and Serena retired after 59km feeling totally out of sorts.
Fellow club member (Enfield & H) Angie Alstrachen completed 100 miles in 23:42:48. Angie, a former 400m hurdler who turned to race walking after a running injury, surprised quite a few people at completing the 100 and putting on a very good performance indeed.

Another relative newcomer to race walking was Sue Smith of Ryston Runners. A training partner of Serena, she has done a lot of long training sessions but had never raced at this distance before. Being realistic, Sue knew she would not complete 100 miles on this attempt, but wanted the experience and to go as far as should could in 24 hours. Sue walked a good solid 77.5 miles in just under 24 hours. Only sitting down for a rest and a cuppa in the final few laps.

RWV Rotterdam had plenty of good strong walkers this year with 15 completing the 100 miles and with 6 finishing in the top 10. It was good to see old friends coming back to walk year after year and also good to see plenty of newcomers to the UK walking scene.
Marcel Dekker from SV de Lat, Amsterdam finished in 23:09:07 has made the journey many times to the English 100. Walking well was fellow club member Johan Konig C.1072 who qualified at Newmarket in 2009.

Lingfield 100 miles 2nd - 3rd July 2011. Lingfield Park Racecourse, Lingfield, Surrey
Organised by Surrey Walking Club.

Officials on duty
Officials Referees – Carl Lawton & Ray Pearce
Chief Judges – Jack Thomas & Glyn Jones
Judges – Peter Cassidy, Pauline Wilson, Peter Marlow Catherine Telling, Michael Croft, John Eddershaw Eric Horwill, Bill Wright & Mick Graham
Starter – Peter Selby

Results:
Men:
1. B.Snoeren (Dak Drunen) 19 hr 4 min 7 sec; 2. R.Pistorius ( RWV Rotterdam) 20 hr 26 min 26 sec; 3. F.De Roeck ( RWV Rotterdam) 20 hr 33 min 2 sec; 5. I.Statter (Sy WC M50) 21 hr 12 min 25 sec; 10. R.Michell (Sy WC M60) 21 hr 36 min 17 sec; 26. P.King (Belg/Sy WC M60) 23 hr 57 min 20 sec; n/a. C.Flint (Sy WC M65) 97.63 mls; n/a. R.Brown (Sy WC M60) 66.81 mls; n/a. D.Hoben (Sy WC M55) 34.81 mls.

Women:
1. S.Brown (Sy WC W60) 20 hr18 min 23 sec; 2. I.Klinkendon ( RWV Rotterdam) 21 hr 4 min 2 sec; 3. C.Mestdagh ( RWV Rotterdam) 21 hr 30 min 57 sec; 7. S.Lightman (Leic WC/Sy WC W40) 22 hr 55 min 58 sec; n/a. V.Brown (Sy WC W) 28.89 mls; n/a. P.Ficken (Sy WC W65) 24.15 mls.

Centurion Awards
Male Winner: Hammond Trophy
Winner (Female): Unicorn Trophy
1st New Centurion: Hew Neilson C145 Trophy
1st Team: Sunday Dispatch Perpetual Trophy
1st Youngest Finisher: Bill King Memorial Trophy
1st Male aged 65 or over: Eddy McNeir Trophy
1st Female aged 65 or over: Chas Shelley Trophy