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The Sheffield Star Walk


mickjj

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Do any of you remember the Star Walk? it used to be held every Whitsuntide Tuesday. It started at West Bar went down to Hillsborough, up Halifax Road, down Whitley Lane to Ecclesfield, up Barnsley Road to Sheffield Lane Top then back down to finish at Owlerton Stadium. A bunch of mates and I did it in the early Seventies, it was knackering but you got a pie, a pint and a certificate for your trouble.

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As a kid it's one of the strangest sites watching people running like they've smashed their hips in.

Like an old movie playing too fast..

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Guest nosy nellie

:P nosy nellie

Do any of you remember the Star Walk? it used to be held every Whitsuntide Tuesday. It started at West Bar went down to Hillsborough, up Halifax Road, down Whitley Lane to Ecclesfield, up Barnsley Road to Sheffield Lane Top then back down to finish at Owlerton Stadium. A bunch of mates and I did it in the early Seventies, it was knackering but you got a pie, a pint and a certificate for your trouble.

i think i remember the star walk originally starting outside the star building in town that was the mens start and the women started at leppings lane. i entered it twice in the eighties.

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Do they still do the Sheffield Star Walk? I can remember being part of it in the late 70`s . I seem to recall my best time was two hours twenty minutes. I can remember doing it one year and the weather was really hot and there was an old fellow at the bottom of Barnsley Road who had his hose pipe on spraying every walker just as they were about to tackle that murderous hill up to Sheffield Lane Top. Thank You that man. AHH the good old days. I know I have a photo in Hillsborough Park just after I finished it

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Do any of you remember the Star Walk? it used to be held every Whitsuntide Tuesday. It started at West Bar went down to Hillsborough, up Halifax Road, down Whitley Lane to Ecclesfield, up Barnsley Road to Sheffield Lane Top then back down to finish at Owlerton Stadium. A bunch of mates and I did it in the early Seventies, it was knackering but you got a pie, a pint and a certificate for your trouble.

Hi mickjj

Had a Google and found this, http://www.thestar.co.uk/memories/Swansong...Walk.3719347.jp

Every One A Winner

Little did I know as I lined up that day

That this was the last Star Walk

As we were sent on our way.

Twenty-five times in The Star Walk

It's been a part of me,

A wonderful spectacle for all to see.

Start at The Star and down High Street we go,

Keep your back straight, don't forget to heel and toe,

Infirmary Road on to Middlewood Road.

A few miles into the race,

Trying so hard to keep up with the pace.

On to Leppings Lane

Past Wednesday's ground with a new

Burst of energy you've suddenly found.

Halifax Road and we are going flat out uphill

But the leaders have gone past as if

We were standing still.

Turn at the Norfolk Arms and down Whiteley Lane we go

Keep the tempo high, can't afford to go slow.

Church Street at Ecclesfield we are now at eight mile

Keep going, keep going, never mind the style.

The great crowds in Ecclesfield

Cheering all the walkers on

Even though the leaders have long since gone.

On we go now we've got to get this right

As the dreaded Barnsley Road hill comes into sight.

With lungs bursting as you go over the top

No time to catch your breath or to stop.

Longley Lane, Herries Drive, you are going well

How will you finish? Only time will tell.

Herries Road, Penistone Road turn into Hillsborough Park

And you've tried so hard to make your mark.

Onto the athletics track and your senses are reeling

But you've finished The Star Walk, a wonderful feeling.

John Burkhill (Super John, Sheffield's mad walker with the pram).

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My family had a rich history in the Star Walk. Two of my great-Uncles won it, and one represented the UK at an Olympic level. His daughter, my second cousin, also won the ladies race.

We always watched the walk go down Hillsborough, and occassionally nipped up to Lane Top, then back to the park for the finish.

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My family had a rich history in the Star Walk. Two of my great-Uncles won it, and one represented the UK at an Olympic level. His daughter, my second cousin, also won the ladies race.

We always watched the walk go down Hillsborough, and occassionally nipped up to Lane Top, then back to the park for the finish.

I never realised that the "Star Walk" was an Olympic event lol

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Guest howeyz

I used to love watching this race every year as a kid and for 4 years from 1987 i walked it.I managed to win a handicap prize in 1991 and was then barred from entering as that was the ruling.To make matters worse the winner the following year did it in a slower time than i managed.

It's a real shame it doesn't happen any more.

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

I used to love watching this race every year as a kid and for 4 years from 1987 i walked it.I managed to win a handicap prize in 1991 and was then barred from entering as that was the ruling.To make matters worse the winner the following year did it in a slower time than i managed.

It's a real shame it doesn't happen any more.

I remember the days when the walk finished at the foot of Pitsmoor Road opposite the Corporation Street baths. Those were the days when people like lol Allen and Bill Allen, and Roland Hardy won the event, and in 1952 a guy called Bill Woodward won it in record time. I got to know Bill quite well. In later years he emigrated to Australia. Sadly, he died a few years ago.

lol Allen and Roland Hardy, of course, progressed from the novices race that was the Star Walk and went on to represent Britain in the Olympics and other international events.

Over the years there were some great characters involved in road walking, and Sheffield was one of the leading centres of the sport --with Sheffield United Walking Club one of the most respected organisations of its kind in the country.

How sad that circumstances conspired to bring an end to the annual Star Walk, but what memories we older folk have of great Whit Tuesdays on the route!

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

Does anyone reconize themselves on this picture or the year?

It's at the junction of Halifax Road and Wilcox Road.

Here's a drawing of ROLAND HARDY, a Star Walk winner just after the war. He went on to gain international fame. Anybody know what happened to him in later years?

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

More pictures of the star walk, date unknown.

It could be you. he he

Bill Woodward won the Star Walk in 1952. He later emigrated to Australia. Sadly, he died a few years ago, but his wife Brenda is still going strong.

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Guest antony5378

Roland Hardy is my Grandad, he still lives in chesterfield in newbold. His only mode of transport is still his feet.

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Roland Hardy is my Grandad, he still lives in chesterfield in newbold. His only mode of transport is still his feet.

Hi and welcome antony5378,

there is an article about Star Walk winner Roland Hardy here .. peakdistrictonline

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

Roland Hardy is my Grandad, he still lives in chesterfield in newbold. His only mode of transport is still his feet.

Hope the old boy is keeping well. I am sure he will have a lot of memories of his heyday as a race walker and of some of his old colleagues from Sheffield United WC. You ought to chat to him, and put some of his recollections on this site for us to read about.

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

Roland Hardy is my Grandad, he still lives in chesterfield in newbold. His only mode of transport is still his feet.

You might like to show Roland this --although he may already have a copy of the original Heap cartoon of the 1949 Star Walk from The Star.

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Hi Antony,

I remember Roland very well and hope you will pass on my regards.I was in the Star Walk when I was only 15,(should have been 16 but I couldn't wait another year) and received the 2nd Handycap prize,Les Radford won the race 1950.I carried on walking with Sheffield United H and AC and won several junior championship in the next few years.

Roland won the Starwalk in 1949 and went to the 1952 and 1956 Olympics.lol Allen another Starwalk winner also went to the 1952 Olympics.

Albert Johnson came third to Roland in the 1949 Star walk. He represented GB inthe 1956 and 1960 Olympics and was also a carrier of the Olympic Torch in the 2000 Games.

Roland also broke the British allcomers record for the twenty miles race in Sheffield in 1956 or 7 The race was two laps starting at Wednesday Ground to Morehall Reservoir and back.

Ray Colley

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

Do any of you remember the Star Walk? it used to be held every Whitsuntide Tuesday. It started at West Bar went down to Hillsborough, up Halifax Road, down Whitley Lane to Ecclesfield, up Barnsley Road to Sheffield Lane Top then back down to finish at Owlerton Stadium. A bunch of mates and I did it in the early Seventies, it was knackering but you got a pie, a pint and a certificate for your trouble.

This is worth repeating here, I think.

From the Sheffield Telegraph, May 1964.

The man who won the first Star Walk in 1922 is writing a history of the competition in his spare time. Watchman Harry Hoyle, of Shepperson Road, Middlewood, Sheffield, is still collecting data and photographs, but the pen work has already begun.

Comparing yesterday’s Whit Tuesday event with the walk of 42 years ago, Mr Hoyle said the roads were rougher and tougher the year he won. “But, then, I didn’t have to put up with all this traffic the modern lads have to face,” he said.

Proudly displaying the gold medal he won in 1922, he said that his father, John T. Hoyle, won the sealed handicap prize in the same race.

(Footnote: 45 years later, one wonders whether the history was ever completed, and, if so, what happened to it.)

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Guest Jamescooke

My family had a rich history in the Star Walk. Two of my great-Uncles won it, and one represented the UK at an Olympic level. His daughter, my second cousin, also won the ladies race.

We always watched the walk go down Hillsborough, and occassionally nipped up to Lane Top, then back to the park for the finish.

My father Harry Cooke competed in it several times, in later years he used to pilot the race on his bike. He was a member of Sheffield United Harriers at the time.

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You might like to show Roland this --although he may already have a copy of the original Heap cartoon of the 1949 Star Walk from The Star.

I've not seen this cartoon drawing before but I do have a picture of George Harry Edge who

came second it that year.

This was my grandads cousin.

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Do any of you remember the Star Walk? it used to be held every Whitsuntide Tuesday. It started at West Bar went down to Hillsborough, up Halifax Road, down Whitley Lane to Ecclesfield, up Barnsley Road to Sheffield Lane Top then back down to finish at Owlerton Stadium. A bunch of mates and I did it in the early Seventies, it was knackering but you got a pie, a pint and a certificate for your trouble.

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i have a pic of the star walk somewhere from the 50's or 60's. It has my nanan and her dad amongst the spectators

Hi worthatron

Is there any chance we could see the picture?

It would be nice to view one from the sixties , saying that I think I've got one.

I will have a search.

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