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Organising

 

Manx Telecom - title sponsor

Celebrating the opening of entries for the 2013 Manx Telecom Parish Walk are, left to right, David Smith, Manx Telecom Marketing Director, Richard Gerrard and Vinny Lynch, joint winners of the 2012 Manx Telecom Parish Walk, and Ray Cox, Race Director

Entries for the Manx Telecom Parish Walk opened on 1 December and organisers are hoping for another record breaking total as the 2013 event will be extra special because it marks 100 years since the first walk was held. Entry costs £30, but Manx Telecom mobile customers will receive a £5 discount if they enter before January 31. All those who enter will receive a commemorative Manx Telecom Parish Walk technical tee-shirt, goodie bag, and a ticket to the prize presentation. The walk takes place on Saturday June 22 - just go to parishwalk.com for both individual and team entries. All participants - including those for the team and Corporate Challenge events - must enter individually. To enter the team events, entrants simply put the name of their team or Corporate Challenge team on the online entry form.

 

The Corporate Challenge category is for teams of four who must all be bona fide employees of the same company, and no team can have more than one member who has previously completed the full 85-mile Parish Walk. There is also an overall team competition with the rule that no more than two of the four team members have previously finished the full Parish Walk course. The Manx Telecom Parish Walk can trace its roots back to the 1850s, but the first event that is comparable to the modern format was held in 1913. That year there was an event called the Parish Walking Match organised by the Isle of Man Times and the Manx Sporting Club. The First World War and its aftermath prevented any repetition of the event until 1923.

 

Race Director Ray Cox said:

 

“The Manx Telecom Parish Walk is always a special day in the Island’s sporting and community calendar - but 2013 promises to be even better due to it being the centenary event. For lots of people who have an ambition to take part, but haven’t got around to it yet, the added prestige of being part of the centenary event could provide that bit of extra motivation they need.”

 

DavidSmith, Manx Telecom Marketing Director, said:

 

“We’re very proud to sponsor the Parish Walk in its centenary year and to build on the success of our first year as title sponsor in 2012. Giving our mobile customers an early sign-up discount proved to be a great way to attract new participants to the event last year so we are extending the offer for 2013.”

 

Entrants in this year’s Manx Telecom Parish Walk won goodies in a prize draw. Wally Saunders from German won the top prize – a Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini from the title sponsor of the event. David Smith, Manx Telecom Marketing Director, presented the prize to him at the recent ‘Walk Talk’ event held at the Manx Museum. Second prize – a Polar RC3 heart rate monitor with GPS donated by the Intersport store in Strand Street, Douglas – went to Andy Keelan from Peel. Intersport also donated the third prize of a pair of Asics Gel Kayano running shoes which went to Mark Whear from Ballasalla.

 

Manx Harriers - organising club

Manx Harriers are organising the Parish Walk for the 22nd year in 2013. Between 1960 and 1964 the Parish Walk was organised by the Manx Amateur Athletic Association (later renamed Manx Athletic Club). Boundary Harriers revived it in 1967 and continued to organise it until 1991.

In September 1991 the Manx Athletic Club merged with Boundary Harriers to form Manx Harriers bringing hundreds of track & field athletes, walkers, road runners and cross country runners into a single club for the first time.

Since 1991 club teams have competed in the Northern Track & Field Leagues, its athletes have won numerous medals in Lancashire Cross Country and Track & Field Championships, its walkers have gained individual and team medals at national championships and in 2011 the club recorded its highest ever position in the National Cross Country Championships.  Individual athletes have excelled at national and international level, represented the Isle of Man in the Commonwealth and won countless medals in the Island Games.  The diversity of the club means that it has continued to promote what was the Manx Athletic Club’s Easter Festival (the famous runner Ron Hill was the guest of honour for the 50th event in 2012) attracting hundreds of visiting athletes, whilst promoting track & field, road running, cross country and race walking, to which everyone on the Isle of Man is invited to join in, and providing an outlet for youngsters to receive expert tuition from the club’s unpaid but highly qualified coaches.

The Manx Telecom Parish Walk, more than any other event in the year, brings all of the club’s skills and resources together.  The majority of members are involved either for a few hours of marshalling while some work all the year around to make the event possible. Even then, the club could not manage without the freely given help from the other Manx clubs and many people outside the athletic club structure.

Such are the demands on the club’s senior officials that a separate committee operates just to organise the Parish Walk.  The committee members give their time freely to enable nearly 2,000 people to take on one of the biggest challenges in Manx sport.  Thanks to the wonderful sponsorship of Manx Telecom the event is not only professionally promoted but the budget from the race entry fees are supplemented to allow for extra policing, additional safety measures, prizes and the presentation while the provision of one of the best electronic results service in the world by Manx Telecom comes at no cost to the organisers and greatly benefits the participants and their families.

Unlike the mass participation events in the UK and elsewhere, the Parish Walk does not employ any staff or pay fees or bonuses to those that take the huge responsibility for ensuring that everything goes smoothly.  Indeed many expenses incurred go unclaimed.  This generosity allows any surplus from the event to help the athletes for which the club was created.  It was only on the merger of the two clubs that each club’s dream of having a permanent clubhouse was realised and this costly resource is put to good use at Parish Walk time.

Richard Gerrard, joint record holder in the Manx Telecom Parish Walk, passes the Manx Harriers clubhouse in one of the many events organised by the club

The satisfaction that the club and its members derive from organising the Parish Walk for the walkers (only 2% of those taking part are their own club members) goes even deeper than witnessing so many personal achievements that walkers remember for a lifetime.

Although all entrants must pay an entry fee, they have one of the Island’s best known events as a charity fundraiser.  How can anyone turn down a request to help someone that has walked up to 85 miles for their cause? 

In big city marathons charities have to pay hundreds of pounds to secure entries for their fund raisers. In some high profile charity fundraising events, thousands of pounds of costs must be deducted from sponsorship.  Thanks to the structure and prestige of the event that Manx Harriers and Manx Harriers provide (this may understate it a little!) all you have to do is, set up your account at justgiving.com or virginmoneygiving.com , ask your friends to sponsor you, enter the race, turn up on the day and walk 85 miles! You should be able to donate every penny that you raise to your charity.

Every year hundreds of walkers raise thousands of pounds for their favourite charities and for the past few years there is an added incentive of, for those that so desire, of being part of a group raising money for one of the official designated charities.

The Manx Telecom Parish Walk has for some time been the biggest mass participation event in the Isle of Man organised by the Island’s largest club with the help of the best sponsors.  This year the organisers are hoping to estimate more accurately the massive amounts that are raised for charity to demonstrate that the participants are as selfless as the organisers. It’s likely to prove that the event is also the Island’s greatest contributors to good causes.  

Murray Lambden - published in Manx Telecom Parish Walk programme 2012 (with slight updates for 2013)

 

 

Isle of Man Tourism are supporting the Manx Telecom Parish Walk in 2013, as they have done for several years, by providing assistance with many of the infrastructure requirements such as road signage, crowd barriers and toilets.  visitisleofman.com

 

SPORTident provide the timing equipment and the software and technical support. They were chosen ahead of other timing suppliers because of their track record in providing bespoke solutions.  You can read more on the information page.

 

The Parish Walk Organising Committee

Raymond Cox

Elizabeth Corran

Karen Kneale

Allan Callow

Kevin Walmsley

Martin Lambden

Winston Liu

Debbie Surgeon

Geoff Walmsley

Most photos by Karen Kneale

 

More help required

The increased participation levels, additional health and safety requirements and efforts to continually improve the event require more and more people to help. Can you help? You can do as much as you like from spending twenty minutes at one of the early marshaling points to joining some of the team who spend weeks helping the committee.

Please contact the following:

Raymond Cox (race director)

Elizabeth Corran (race secretary)

Winston Liu (chief marshal)

 

The Isle of Man Civil Defence

The Isle of Man Civil Defence joined the Parish Walk organisation in 2008. You can read about their role here

WEBSITE

 

 

Colebourn TV have been supporting the Manx Telecom Parish Walk since 2008 and provide computers and large TV screens to allow spectators at the finish to follow the progress of the walkers using the Manx Telecom results service.

 

 

Feeding Stations

Several local companies provide resources and manpower for the feeding stations along the course. In 2013 the following companies will be sponsoring the feeding stations:

Isle of Man Bank

Up & Running

Robinsons

Barclays Private Bank

3 FM

Shoprite

MannVend

KPMG

Paragon

Hospice

Rushen Round Table

SMP Partners

Finally, one of the unique features of the event is the number of individuals who provide refreshments free of charge from their houses along the course.

 

 

Other sponsors and supporters

The intention is to try and acknowledge the role of as many people as possible who contribute to the Manx Telecom Parish Walk.  As many lists of helpers and sponsors as possible will be published here when made available.

 

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Title sponsor

Organising club

Committee

Feeding stations