First time lifting as a walker

I've just published an old photo of my old school friend Simon Capelen on the front page from when we were in the same team in the TT relay walk. He has been in and out of the sport, both as a walker and a runner, since the old photo  from 1975 was taken so it was good to see him as the fastest walker yesterday. He is  at least 53 (if not 54, I remember he was a few months younger than me).

We went to the English Schools Walks together that year. They were held in Sheffield but we were accommodated by some of the Merseyside Schools families in Formby. I was aged 18 and we flew to Liverpool and it was the first time I had ever flown. It might seem strange to those younger than me (and there are a lot!) but it was probably more unusual that I had flown by the age of 18 than not.

The next time I can remember flying was Manchester to the Isle of Man in 1978. I was a business studies student but doing part of my "sandwich" course working in Manchester. I had no holiday entitlement so I flew home for the Parish Walk on Friday night and back on Monday morning.

Simon and I were sometimes great team mates but at other times deadly rivals. More another day.