Centurions in numbers
Centurions
Centurions in numbers
As the Brotherhood of Centurions has been around for over 100 years, it is inevitable that many of the achievements recorded on these pages are by British athletes. But Australian, Dutch and Belgian Centurions are now amongst this list! (thanks to Tim Erickson and the Australian Centurions website)
Top four fastest 100 mile men’s times: see the complete complete list of the fastest (under 18 hours for 100 miles!)
- 16:31:38 Jan DE JONGE Bergen 10/11 April 1982
- 16:50:28 Richard BROWN Sint Oedenrode 22/23 May 1993
- 16:54:15 Frank O'REILLY Leicester-Skegness 01/02 July 1960
- 16:55:44 John MOULLIN Ewhurst 25/26 July 1971
- In 1977, for the first time in British 100 miles history, women were allowed to compete on equal terms with the men and the first Centurion qualification by a woman was achieved by Ann Sayer (C599) at the Bristol 100. In fact, Ann had become a Continental Centurion earlier that year in St. Odenrode finishing in a time of 21 hours and 46 minutes;
- Eddie McNeir (C375) completed 10 Centurion events between the ages of 65 and 75 after whom a trophy is named for the first man over 65 to complete 100 miles in a UK Centurion race;
- John Moulin set the fastest Centurion qualifying time of 16.55.44 in 1971;
- Richard Brown has won a record 10 Centurion events
- Sandra Brown has won the UK ladies 100 miles event 25 times and became the first person to achieve all seven worldwide Centurion awards. (see multi Centurions)
- 1877 to 2022: 97 Centurion qualifying events have been held in the UK
- In 2022 last British number awarded was C1217
- 17 of the 97 events held in the UK to 2022 have been track races
- Dominic King (C1098) who qualified at Colchester in 2012 alongside his twin brother Dan (C1100) are the first twins to become Centurions
- Bill Dyer became the youngest Centurion when he completed his 100 miler at the age of 16. Bill still remains the youngest person in the world to have become a Centurion. Bill was a top junior walker at the time but did not train for the event. He just decided to give it a try and kept going and going and going.... (and well, why not?)
- The over 70s. Amazingly there are a number of race walkers who achieve their Centurion status when they have reached the magical age of 70 or over.
See the list of the "super vets" compiled by Gerrit de Jong. Notably, Deryck Skinner (AUS) raised the bar in late 2005 by completing his 100 miler at the age of 72 years and 11 months, thus becoming the oldest new Centurion ever in the world. Deryck's time was an impressive 22:39:55. Deryck quickly built on this first effort, and in just under 12 months completed the 100 mile distance within 24 hours on 4 occasions, once as a 72 year old and three times as a 73 year old. On the third of these four occasions, he achieved this feat during the first 24 hours in a 48 hour event. In the full 48 hours, he walked 257.877 km, the best ever by an Australian. Australia's most decorated member was for many years Chris Clegg who completed the 100 miles in England, Australia, USA and Holland. He completed five 100 milers during a long and illustrious ultra distance career. He was joined first by Geoff Hain who has now been awarded 5 of the 6 available Centurion badges and lately by Sharon and Justin Scholz who have also been awarded 5 badges each (Australia, New Zealand, USA, England and Continental Europe - only the African badge currently eludes them). - Justin and Sharon Scholz (AUS) became the first Australian husband and wife team to become first time Centurions, Justin in 2012 and Sharon in 2013. Justin repeated his Centurion walk in June 2013 to complete a fascinating double and then they both walked a further hundred together in September 2013, the first Australian couple to do so at the same time. That means they have both run over 200 km and walked over 100 miles in the one calendar year (2013)
Olympians
Several UK Centurions have competed in the Olympics and also the Commonwealth Games. see the list of these athletes
The fastest
The over 70s
A growing number of Centurions over the "grand old age" of 70 are still out there competing. See the list of the over 70s performances
The multi Centurions
Not content of walking 100 miles in 24 hours in their own country, many Centurions take the opportunity to travel far and wide to compete and gain more Centurion badges. Check the multi Centurions list
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