PottedHistory

    Walking events – sometimes under a reasonable degree of scrutiny and sometimes not – really began to develop in England about the end of the eighteenth century (although there had been the occasional example in earlier times) 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 (about 400 miles or 645k) in six days for a wager of 1,000 guineas (£1050) and in 1808 a Captain Howe walked 346 miles (557k) in six days and then, a fortnight later, walked 83 miles (134k) in less than 24 hours for a 200 guinea (£210) wager.

    The validity of some of these early efforts must be questionable. Thus, James Watson must surely have been straining the concept of walking when he went from Whitechapel to Romford and back, 23 miles (37k), 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 fifty minutes, at a speed in excess of ten miles (16k) an hour!

    The most famous of these feats was, of course, that of Captain Barclay (Robert Barclay Allardyce), an amateur runner and pugilist, who, in 1808-1809 walked one mile (1609 metres) in each of 1,000 consecutive hours on Newmarket Heath for 1,000 guineas.


Foster Powell	Captain Barclay

    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, except for excessively long-distance races, sometimes lasting several days. This bizarre corner of the sport, flourishing in the 1860s and 1870s is thoroughly dealt with in the book King of the Peds. [See the Books page under "Marshall, P."]

II A Little More Regulation

    However, 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 seven mile (11,265 metres) race in 59:32. The seven 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 A.A.A. 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 twentieth century saw the firm establishment of race walking as a serious, well-regulated sport, some of the key dates being these:

The names of the winners of Olympic Games and other international events can be found on the International Champions page of this web site and Commonwealth Games performances by competitors from these islands on the Commonwealth Games page.

IV The Rules

    The rules of race walking have changed considerably over the years.

    At the first Amateur Athletic Association Championships, the concept was a trifle vague and the entire rule for race walking read: “In Walking Races cautions and disqualifications to be left to the discretion of the Judges.” This was still the rule – if "rule" is not too strong a word – at the 1908 Olympic Games.

    It was soon recognised that the essence of walking was continuous contact with the ground and this was adopted as the definition; a phrase frequently used was "fair heel and toe", referring to the grounding of the front heel before the rear toe left the ground. However, many were of the opinion that “form” or “shape” – that is, the requirement that a competitor “should look as if he is walking” – was also important and after years of frequently acrimonious argument this was accommodated by requiring the knees (or one of them) to be straight at various times during the stride. After many adjustments and changes – and heated exchanges of views, including attempts to remove the requirement to stay on the ground – the modern version requires (1) continuous contact with the ground and (2) straightness of the knee of the “advancing leg” from the moment that the foot touches the ground until the leg is vertically upright. One still contentious matter is that contact must be maintained according to the naked eye of the judge; that is to say, that no films or mechanical aids to judging are permitted.

    For a walker to be disqualified, he or she must receive three red cards from three different judges; the cards can be for a mixture of ”lifting” (the colloquial term for loss of contact) and “knees”.

    Click here for the full text of the current I.A.A.F. Rule 230.

1904	The Olympic Games decathlon rather curiously included an 800 metre walk, the race – and the overall decathlon – being won by the Irishman Tom Kiely.
1906	Race walking (at 1500 metres and 3000 metres) appeared in the Intercalated Olympic Games, with some controversy, as the first two finishers in each race (the same men) were disqualified. [These Games are not recognised by the International Olympic Committee.]
1907	The Southern Counties Road Walking Association was formed in London, being the first governing body for race walking anywhere in the world.
1908	The first properly-organised Championship was held over 20 miles at Ruislip in Middlesex, the individual winner being Harold Ross of Tooting A.C. in 2:56:32, while the team prize went to Surrey Walking Club. In the London Olympic Games – the first occasion on which walks were included as a separate event in the official Games – George Larner, a Brighton policeman, won both the walks – 3500 metres in 14:55·0 and 10 miles in 1:15:57·4.
1911	The Southern Counties Road Walking Association became the Road Walking Association, transforming itself into the first national governing body.
1923	The first Women’s Amateur Athletic Association track championship – and apparently the first national women’s walking championship in the world – was held, won by Edith Trickey with a time of 4:35·0 for 880 yards (805 metres).
1933	The first national road championships for women were held, over an unknown distance, won by Jeanne Probekk in 25:56.
1954	The Road Walking Association took over from the A.A.A. responsibility for track walking, becoming the Race Walking Association.
1996	A men's walk – at 20 miles – was introduced to the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica and won by Ron Wallwork of England in 2:44:43.
1968	The first championships of the English Schools' Athletic Association were held, for boys only.
1974	The E.S.A.A. introduced girls' championships.
1980	The R.W.A. took over from the women's organisations all responsibility for women's walking, thus becoming the first unified body in English athletics.
1990	A women's walk – at 10k – was added to the Commonwealth Games in Auckland and won by Kerry Saxby of Australia in 45:03.
1992	A women's walk was introduced to the Olympic Games in Barcelona; it was won by Chen Yueling of China in 44:32, thirty seconds faster than the winning time of J.Mikaelsson of Sweden in 1952, the last time the men's event was held at that distance.

Year City	Men	Women
1908 London	3500m and 10 miles	Not held
1912 Stockholm	10000m	Not held
1920 Antwerp	3000m and 10000m	Not held
1924 Paris	10000m	Not held
1928 Amsterdam	Not held	Not held
1932 Los Angeles	50k	Not held
1936 Berlin	50k	Not held
1948 London	10000m and 50k	Not held
1952 Helsinki	10000m and 50k	Not held
1956 Melbourne	20k and 50k	Not held
1960 Rome	20k and 50k	Not held
1964 Tokio	20k and 50k	Not held
1968 Mexico City	20k and 50k	Not held
1972 Munich	20k and 50k	Not held
1976 Montreal	20k	Not held
1980 Moscow	20k and 50k	Not held
1984 Los Angeles	20k and 50k	Not held
1988 Seoul	20k and 50k	Not held
1992 Barcelona	20k and 50k	10k
1996 Atlanta	20k and 50k	10k
2000 Sydney	20k and 50k	20k
2004 Athens	20k and 50k	20k
2008 Beijing	20k and 50k	20k
2012 London	20k and 50k	20k

Year	City	Distance	British Medallists
1908	London	3500m	1 George Larner – 2 Ernest Webb
		10 miles	1 George Larner – 2 Ernest Webb – 3 Edward Spencer
1912	Stockholm	10000m	3 Ernest Webb
1920	Antwerp	10000m	3 Charles Gunn
1924	Paris	10000m	2 Reginald Goodwin
1932	Los Angeles	50k	1 Tommy Green
1936	Berlin	50k	1 Harold Whitlock
1948	London	50k	3 Tebbs Lloyd Johnson
1960	Rome	20k	3 Stan Vickers
		50k	1 Don Thompson
1964	Tokyo	20k	1 Ken Matthews
		50k	2 Paul Nihill

THE BRITISH OLYMPIC MEDALLISTS

George Larner (5) and Ernest Webb (15)	Tommy Green	Harold Whitlock	Don Thompson	Ken Matthews

Photograph to follow	Photograph to follow	Photograph to follow
Edward Spencer	Charles Gunn	Reginald Goodwin	Tebbs Lloyd Johnson	Stan Vickers	Paul Nihill

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