Centurions1911

A look at the early long distance/ultra race walkers.

Not all were Centurions, but many created a great interest in sport of long distance walking in the late 19th Century and were the forerunners of what we know today and were instrumental in the formation of the Brotherhood of Centurions in 1911.

Pre Centurions - the Age of Pedestrianism

The Origins of Race Walking

Brian Ficken, Past President of the Race Walking Association, gave Making History the following information.

Walking events, sometimes under a reasonable degree of scrutiny and sometimes not, really began to develop about the end of the 18th century and frequently featured professionals engaging in prodigious feats of 'pedestrianism' for considerable wagers. In 1773, for example, Foster Powell walked from London to York and back in six days for a wager of 1,000 guineas, and in 1808 a Captain Howe walked 346 miles in six days and then, a fortnight later, walked 83 miles in less than 24 hours for a 200 guinea wager. The validity of some of these early efforts must be questionable. James Watson must surely have been straining the concept of walking when he went from Whitechapel to Romford and back, 23 miles, in less than three hours, as must a Mr Rickets, who managed to get from Shoreditch to Ponders End (near Enfield in Middlesex) and back in an hour and 50 minutes, at a speed in excess of ten miles an hour!

The most famous of these walking feats was that of Captain Barclay (Robert Barclay Allardyce), an amateur runner and pugilist, who, in 1808 -9, walked one mile in each of 1,000 consecutive miles on Newmarket Heath for 1,000 guineas.

Eventually, given the absence of any objective definition of 'walking', these events fell into disrepute and the activity - hardly worthy of description as a sport - declined. But in the 1860s, when athletics in general began to be organised on a formal basis, walking was on the scene again and the first Amateur Walking Championship, promoted by the Amateur Athletic Club, was held in 1866, when J.G. Chambers of Cambridge University won the 7-mile race in 59:32. The 7 miles continued to be contested until 1893, becoming the Amateur Athletic Association Championship in 1880, and track walks have, ever since, been included in the AAA Championships. The famous London to Brighton race was first held in 1886, promoted by the long-vanished Hairdressers' Athletic Club, and several other point-to-point events, now mostly abandoned because of traffic conditions, followed.

The early 20th century saw the firm establishment of race walking as a serious, well-regulated sport, some of the key dates being these:

1906: Race walking (at 1,500 metres and 3,000 metres) appeared in the Intercalated Olympic Games, with some controversy as the first two finishers in each race (the same men) were disqualified.
1907: The Southern Counties Road Walking Association was formed in London.
1908: The first Championship was held over 20 miles at Ruislip, the individual winner being Harold Ross of Tooting A.C. in 2:56:32, while the team prize went to Surrey Walking Club.
1908: In the London Olympic Games, George Larner, a Brighton policeman, won both the walks 3,500 metres in 14:55.0 and 10 miles in 1:15:57.4.
1911: The Southern Counties Road Walking Association became a national body. It subsequently took over from the AAA responsibility for track walking (in 1954) and from the women's organisations all responsibility for women's walking (in1980), thus becoming the first unified body in English athletics.

Where does the style come from?
It is the only way to allow people to walk at speed without running. Clearly some of the early 'walkers' were running if their times are to be believed. Race walking rules demand that a part of a walker's foot is on the ground at any one time - when you run there are times when nothing is touching the ground.

From Radio 4 Making History 2005
Brian Ficken died 2010


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