RAOC Gazette - page 166
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1978 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1978 |
| Late date | 1978 |
| Transcription |
WALK AROUND THE CLOCK STAFF SERGEANT JOHN BROOKS BEM started it all. Not long after his arrival at Composite Ordnance Depot Hong Kong he announced that he wanted to attempt another world record. Another? The Guinness Book of Records was duly consulted and showed that Brooks had established a world endurance walk- ing record in 1975 when he marched three hundred and five miles around Aintree motor racing circuit in seventy five hours. He had done that walk for charity and, with several other sponsored walks, had raised over £15.000. On one occasion he had walked one hundred and fifteen miles in twenty four hours, and he felt confident that he could improve on that. The present twenty four hour record stood at one hundred and thirty three miles and Brooks was anxious to attack it before he was past his peak (he is now forty three). Being in Hong Kong offered an ideal opportunity for a sponsored walk, since most donations are channelled through a central fund known as the * Community Chest,' a government-backed organisation with enormous prestige and wide access to the media. show. Most important of all was the sponsorship, and at least £2,500 had already been promised by the time the event started. The weather had been cool and overcast in the week pre* ceding the event, ideal conditions for walking. As competitors arrived at the Stadium for the opening ceremony, however, the significance of April Fool's Day must have occurred to every* one, because the sun was blazing down from a cloudless sky and the temperature was well into the eighties. At 10.00 hrs Mrs Siu Hon Sum on behalf of the ' Community Chest' cut the ribbon and the first walkers were off, threading their way through the swarms of television crews who had come to cover the event, A small committee under Captain Terry Ewers was set up l and after discussions with Community Chest' officials it was agreed that the record attempt should be made early in 1978 in the Hong Kong Stadium. It was clear that if Brooks was to have a chance of breaking the record he would need some good pacemaking, and it was decided that this could best be achieved combining the individual attempt with a team race, each team providing six walkers. In the event, eleven teams entered the competition, and there was one individual ready to challenge Brooks—Senior Inspector of Police Roy Bailey, a very popular local sportsman with a host of long-distance running records to his credit. Composite Ordnance Depot entered two teams: one from the main depot comprising Major Tony Jeffries, Terry Ewers, WO I Dave Smith, W 2 Keith Allcock (REME), Staff Sergeant Steve Bonta and Sergeant Pat Gilligan; and one from the Supply and Petroleum Sub-Depot comprising Corporals Trevor Asquith, David Mould, John Fleck, Mick Miller and two Chinese staff Kwong Kwok Kung and Leung Chit Pui. There were also two ladies' teams. A determined John Brooks frails an exhuberant Winnie. The build up to the event brought enormous publicity (the best ever achieved by the Army in Hong Kong, according to the Joint Services Public Relations Staff), with Brooks the main at- traction. He featured in numerous newspaper articles, took part in rado programmes, and appeared so often on television that he began to rival * Starsky and H u t c h ' as the most popular The Winning Team. There was no rule limiting the time each member of a team had to walk, but the main depot team had decided to walk half- hour spells, as opposed to the one hour spells chosen by most other teams. The value of this was proved almost immediately when Keith AUcock stormed into the lead and streaked away from the rest of J:he field with only Brooks in hot pursuit By the end of the second lap (a lap measured five hundred and fifty yards) it was evident that the pace was too much for Brooks, although Allcock Was lapping in the sort of time required to break the record. Allcock handed over to Ewers a full lap ahead of anyone, and each succeeding walker from the main depot team increased the lead, so that by midday the only question in the team event was who would be second? It was also clear by then that Brooks was too far behind schedule to have any chance of making up time later, and with the noon temperature at ninety there were doubts as to whether he could last out the full twenty four hours. He was already some distance behind Roy Bailey, and as the afternoon wore on it was clear that both men were in considerable discomfort under the merciless sun. Meanwhile the team walkers were grinding their way round the track thinking only of the cool beer waiting for them, Despite the sweat and toil everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and the whole atmosphere was exciting. There was humour, too. Lap times were called out as each competitor passed beneath the timekeepers* stand. Allcock was ever im- patient to know how he was doing. " Time?" he snapped on one occasion as he shot past a lethargic official, "Nearly four o'clock, Keith." Allcock was a great attraction. Over six feet tall, a Colony rugby player, bottom waggling in true walker's style, he was blisteringly fast. On one lap, dogged closely by lovely Winnie Ng, one of Hong Kong's leading lady athletes, he recorded a time of two minutes thirty five seconds and no one could live with that sort of pace (although Winnie did two minutes fifty one seconds). As night approached interest centred on three issues: would Brooks be able to catch Bailey; would SPSD overhaul — 136 — (Continued on page 148) |
| Book number | R0247 |