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The
British Centurions
were
formed in 1911
and have
operated continuously since then. They hold one
event per year and potential Centurions must complete the requisite 100
miles in this event to qualify for membership.
Originally, membership was to be
limited to 100, but this was rescinded
in October 1930 as the numbers of members swelled well past the initial
estimates.
At the inaugural meeting in 1911,
James Edwin Fowler-Dixon was
retrospectively accorded the number "1" for his performance in 1877 and
was elected the first President and held that position until his death
in 1943. The position has been deemed to be 'for life' and there have
only 9 Presidents in the entire history of the club. Carl
Lawton (C750) is the current President.
The London to Brighton and back
(19 Centurion races) and the Leicester
to Skegness (11 Centurion races) races were popular yearly qualifying
opportunities until eventually motor traffic forced walkers off the
roads. In recent years the annual event has been held at venues in
London, Colchester, Newmarket and on the Isle of Man.
In most years, the qualifying
event is held as a road event but
approximately every 10 years, it is held as a track based event so that
walkers can test themselves against the official British records.
The official Centurions website
is found at https://centurions1911.org.uk/.
In 2011, the British Centurions
celebrated 100
years of existence amidst big celebrations and they continue to lead
the way into their second century of existence.
The
2024 English Centurions qualifying race, which took place in Gloucester on the weekend of 24-25 August, saw 10
walkers complete 100 miles. Of these 10 walkers, 2 were
first-time
English Centurions (C1221-1222). This takes the overall tally to 1220 (as
numbers 99 and 453 are not allocated - now that's a story!)
The Centurion list as of August 2024
(compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List
of British
Centurions.pdf
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Centurion
Vereniging Nederland (C.V.N.)
is the second oldest Centurion
club in the world.
After L. Schol, Centurion 291,
had become the first Dutch
Centurion, more and more Dutch men and women travelled to Great Britain
to obtain the Centurion title. Besides the British Centurions, the
largest group of foreign Centurions were the Dutch. To stay in contact
with each other and to represent the Dutch contingent of Centurions,
Centurion Vereniging Nederland (C.V.N.) was founded on the 12th of
February 1966. C.V.N. spreads news about
past and future races amongst its members, organizes trips to the
British races and has a Centurion reunion each year.
In other words, C.V.N. is a
brotherhood of all the Continental European based walkers
who are members of the Centurion League based in England. C.V.N. does
not hold any event of its own - it is a club that exists simply to
honour those walkers from Netherlands, Belgium and surrounding
countries who qualify at British Centurions. The current count is over
300 members.
C.V.N. has its own website at http://www.centurionverenigingnederland.nl
and it puts out its own regular club magazine.
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The
Continental Centurions
were formed in 1973 and, in that
same year, the first Continental Centurion number was allocated.
Continental Centurion
1 is Jan Vos, who is still an active walker today. The rules to
obtain this title are roughly the same as for Centurions. In
the
Netherlands, an annual race walking event is held, either in Weert
(around the Iron Man lake, organised by the O.L.A.T.) in odd years
(2007, 2009, 2011 etc.) or in Schiedam (in the Beatrix park, organised
by the R.W.V.) in even years (2008, 2010, 2012 etc.). These events
include the 24 hours event, a 100 kilometers race, a 50 miles race and
a 50 kilometers race. These events are the only opportunity to obtain
the Continental Centurion title, the Honderdman title or the
Kennedyvriend title.
The 2024 qualifying racewas held in May in Schiedam, with 10 walkers completing the
100
mile distance and with 5 new Continental centurion badges awarded. This takes
the number count to 503
but there are actually only 501 members. Like the
English Centurions, not all numbers have been allocated. In the case of
the Continental Centurions, numbers 151 and 159 are
not
allocated.
They are mainly Dutch, but there
are also German, Belgian, British, Danish and Australian Continental
Centurions. There is no specific website for the continental centurions
so you have to check out the R.W.V or O.L.A.T. websites for further
information.
OLAT website: http://www.olat.nl/
RWV website: http://www.rotterdamsewandelsportvereniging.nl/
Continental Centurion list as
of June 2024
(compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List
of
Continental Centurions.pdf
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The
Centurions Club
of
America
was formed by the Columbia Track
Club in 1967
and held an
annual 24 hour walking event each year for
nearly 20
years. Nearly all the early events were held in Colombia in Missouri
but as time went on, other venues were used in places such as San
diago. Their last event was held in 1983 and the books stood closed at
48 Centurions.
It
was with great excitement that the Centurion world greeted the news
that this group had reformed in 2000 under the auspices of Ulli Kamm
and his wife Traudl. That same year, Ulli organised a qualifying race
in his home town of Golden in Colorado and 9 new members overcame snow
and freezing conditions to reach the 100m mile mark and qualify as
American Centurions. Since then, further new members have been added
year by year.
Since 2003, the yearly qualifying event has been held in conjunction
with the Ultracentric 24/48 Hour Carnival and the event now advertises
that those who complete 100 miles within 24 Hours will be awarded the
Ultracentric (UC) Centurion Award.
In 2016, Ulli stepped down from his job as American Centurion
coordinator and the baton was passed to American Centurion Rob Robertson.
The American Centurion website is http://www.unitedstatescenturionwalkers.com.
The 2024 Centurion Qualifying event in June saw one new member, taking the overall count to 102 members.
USA Centurion list as
of June 2024 (compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List of
US
Centurions.pdf
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The
Australian Centurions
was formed in 1971. The club usually holds
one
qualifying event each year
and from 2003 to 2023, this was normally in April at Coburg, a Melbourne suburb in the State
of
Victoria. The Coburg qalifier was track based and competitors faced
the
challenge of completing just over 402 laps of the 400m track to achieve
the elusive 100 mile mark. However, the 2013 and 2014
qualifying events were
held in Albert Park, Melbourne, as road
based qualifiers. The
Coburg Carnival was shut down after the 2023 staging so the Australian
Centurions do not have an official qualifying event in 2024. Rather, a
small number of Australian based 24 Hour events have been targetted as
qualifying opportuities. This is in line with their rule which grants
centurion
membership to walkers who achieve the 100 mile standard in other events
such as the Sri Chinmoy Australian 24 Hour championship, provided
centurion scutineers are available to monitor and verify the
performance. This is different to the other
Centurion clubs who only accept performances done in their specific
event.
The club has extended its mandate
from the original 100 mile concept and now seeks to encourage ultra
walking throughout Australia. As such, it recognises and oversees
performances from 6 Hours to 6 Days and maintains and administers Open
and Age Group Records over a wide variety of Distances
and Times.
The club also puts out a regular
ultra walking newsletter and maintains a comprehensive website at http://www.centurions.org.au
So far in 2024, 2 new Centurions, Sabina Hamaty and Allicia Heron, have been added to the list to take the membership total to 88 members.
Australian Centurion list as of October 2024 (compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List
of
Australian Centurions.pdf
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The New Zealand Centurions
was formed in November 1998 and
was enthusiastically run by Dudley Harris until
his retirement from club administration.
Philip Sharp maintains
a comprehensive website
at https://www.nzcenturions.nz/
As well as recognising centurion
status, the New Zealand Centurions recognise the achievement of walking
100 kilometres
in 14 hours 30 minutes.
They do not usually organise
their own events. Instead, members enter
events organised by other organisations, such as by the New Zealand
Sri-Chinmoy marathon team.
In the 2023 qualifier,
held in conjunction with
the New Zealand Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour Track Championships in
Auckland in early June, 2 new members were added to take the
membership total to 31
members.
NZ Centurion list as of June 2024
(compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List of NZ
Centurions.pdf
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The
Malaysia Centurions
was formed in Malaysia in 2001
and held their first 24 hour walk in August of that year. The inaugural
race saw 11 new members. The next event was held in August 2003 and
saw 12 centurion finishers and hence 12 new members to make 23
Malaysian centurions in total - from 15
countries. Interestingly, organiser Khoo Chong Beng had decided that
each finisher
would be awarded a Malaysian Centurion number even if it was a second
finish. This is the only Centurion Club which operated in this fashion.
The other clubs only award a centurion number on the occasion of the
first finish.
In the 2005 event, 12 finishers
meant a further 12 centurion numbers were added to
the list with the 12 representing CZE, ESP, BEL, FRA, RUS, GER, NED,
AUS, MAS and BLR. No race can claim to be more world-inclusive than the
Malaysian event.
While the first 3 events had been
held in the relative coolness of the
Genting Highlands resort, their next event, in August 2007, was
staged in central Kuala Lumpur. The tough conditions ensured that only
5
walkers reached the 100 mile target. Of the 5 successful walkers, 3
were Malaysian, indicating
the increasing standard of local ultra walking within that country. The
other interesting note is that Kenyan women finished 1st,
2nd and 4th in the women's division, definitely another first in the
world
of ultra walking. Is this perhaps the first sign of an African interest
in the ultra running and ultra walking disciplines.
Unfortunately
no qualifying events was held in in subsequent years and it has been
confirmed that this centurion chapter has folded for good.
The Malaysian
Centurion count stands at 40
members.
The
club grew
quickly
and was
one
of the
real success stories in ultra walking during its short lifetime.
This event was unique in a number
of ways
- it had a great mass participation and was a much bigger event
numerically than other centurion events around the world
- it had firm Government support and offered cash prizes and subsidises
overseas participants
- it regularly attracted large numbers of entrants from around the world
- any judging infringement incurred a 1 lap penalty, yet another
innovation unique to this event.
As well as the 24 Hour event,
Malaysia played host to the very
successful Penang International 12 Hour event which was also held every
2 years. IN recent years, this 12 Hour event has moved around to
various cities and is still held in December of each year.
View the full results of all
Malaysian
Centurion events at http://www.championchip.com.my/
The
Malaysian organisers never recorded 100 mile times for those who
reached that mark - they only recorded the final 24 Hour distance. This
final distance is shown for each centurion in the Malaysian Centurion
list
(compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List
of
Malaysian Centurions.pdf
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The African Centurions
was formed in 2016, with its inaugural qualifying event held on
the weekend of 22-23 October 2016 on Robben Island in South Africa. 19
of the 49 solo walk entrants (15 men and 4 women) completed the full
100 mile distance, thus earning badges C1-C19. The second annual
qualifying event was held in Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2017,
and it also saw multiple finishers, with a further 10 new
African Centurions (C20-C29). The third qualifier, held in October
2018, saw a further 8 badges awarded and in October 2019, a further 2
names were added, taking the grand total to
39 members
after only 4 years. Impressive!
Event website: http://www.africancenturion.com/
African Centurion list as of December 2022
(compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List South Africa Centurions.pdf
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The German Centurions
An inaugural German Centurions qualifying event was held in the German
city of Bochum in October 2022. Organised by centurion Charles
Arosanyin, the event saw 15 finishers. In a break from tradition, the
new event awarded separate centurion badges for men and women - 13 for
the men and 2 for the women. We now wait to see if this was a once off
event or whether subsequent annual qualifiers will take place.
German Centurion list as of October 2022
(compliments of Rudy Schoors) -> List
of German Centurions.pdf
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