What have the following sportsmen got in common?

John Corrin (deceased)
David Wilkinson
Derek Harrison
John Curphey
Ron Ronan

Answers.

1. They were all educated at Castle Rushen High School.
2. They all represented the Castle Rushen High School Old Scholars (at different stages) in the TT Relay from the early 1970’s right through to the late 1990’s.
3. They have all completed the Parish Walk on one or more occasions.
4. They were all tremendous all rounders in sport.
5. They all represented the Isle of Man in their chosen sports.


After reading Murray’s feature on Dave Wilkinson a few weeks ago when he summarised Dave’s sporting achievements and his willingness to assist in events and his sportsmanship etc, I thought I would broaden it to include the other members of the team.

For a long time and mainly out of respect and admiration, I’ve been thinking of writing about the sporting achievements of the aforementioned sportsmen. Clearly some extensive research was needed, so I phoned up Ron Ronan and John Curphey last week to check out a few facts. I was pretty confident that I knew most of what the CRHS guys had achieved in their hey day and over the years, but after hearing Ron and John unearthing all these other facts and information, made me realize that I had underestimated them and that they were an even more talented bunch than I first thought.

If there was a team award going for services to sport in the Isle of Man over the years, then surely these guys would win it comfortably. Unsung heroes is the expression which springs to mind.

Starting with the order they walked in the TT Relay (he usually did the first leg), I’ll begin with the late John Corrin.

John was a stylish race walker who never really trained that hard but always kept himself in good shape. He would do a little training a few weeks before the Relay Walk and an odd session in the winter just so he could keep fit and do some decent 10 km walks in the Winter League Handicaps. In fact he always performed very well for the CRHS team and would always be in the first 3 or 4 individuals arriving at Glen Helen. He walked for this team for many years and according to Ron got down to 54 minutes for 10km. John also finished the Parish Walk in 1975 in a time of 20 hrs 15 mins.

In addition John was a fine badminton player and represented the Island in tennis on numerous occasions. He also played football for Colby AFC in his early days.

Moving on to Dave Wilkinson (Wilkie). As Murray says Dave walked for the CRHS Old Scholars from the early 70’s and usually walked the second leg – Glen Helen to Ginger Hall. He never let his side down in this event and his best time for 10km, presumably recorded in a Winter League Handicap, was about 56 minutes.

Of course Dave finished the Parish on three occasions and his best time was in 1989 when he recorded 21 hrs 04 mins. He always threatened to walk a 100 miles but never got round to it. This was an achievement which he was well capable of, but I suspect being an all rounder he had other interests and didn’t really have the time to train, particularly in the summer as he was too busy with tennis. In fact he won a few Isle of Man titles (partnering Ron Ronan) during the 70’s. Dave also played badminton to a good standard but the one sport I will always remember him for is football.

Dave was an old fashioned wing half and played for Castletown. He played for the Island Senior XI once against a vey skilful Spartak Prague in the late 1960’s. Dave being a very modest man never really talks about his achievements but I had the pleasure of playing football against him when I was a young lad and he was a fine player. He was a gentleman on the pitch as well as off it. The term a gentleman and a scholar describes Dave Wilkie perfectly.

Dave is a model sportsman and is always available to marshal at big events like the IOM Marathon, Manx Mountain Marathon and the Parish etc. I remember the late Arthur Jones (another southerner) always asked Dave to help marshal in the MMM as he could always be relied upon. In fact his main pastime these days is hill walking all over the Island.

Dave always got a lot out of sport but put a lot back into it. And just for the record he’s remained loyal to the IOM Passenger Transport Services, as he is still a regular user of the buses. I’m sure the late Bill Lambden would be impressed.

Moving on to the third leg man (the mountain section – Ginger Hall to the Black Hut) in the Relay team – Derek Harrison. What I can say that we don’t already know about this man? Well actually there is a lot.

Everyone will know him for his race walking achievements and may be winning the IOM Marathon in the late 70’s in 2hrs 48 (on walking training only) at the age of 42. Just a whistle stop tour of Dereks CV then.

He finished the End to End and won it on numerous occasions (11?). Of course his Parish Walk record in 1979 – 15 hrs 20 which stood for 27 years speaks for itself. But we all really know that his best achievement ever was a year or two prior to that, when he broke the 24 hour track world record walk in Rouen, France. He covered a mind blowing 136 miles in that time. This equates to the same speed of his 1979 Parish time. It still freaks me out thinking about that. There’s not that many good runners who can run that distance in 24 hours. He also represented the IOM in the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974.

Of course his sporting prowess just didn’t end with athletics. After returning to the Island after his 2 years National Service (mid 50’s) in the Army, (he represented them in soccer by the way), he played for Castletown, Rushen, Pulrose and Braddan AFC. In the late 60’s he also played for the Island. It was with his last club Braddan however, that he decided to make the transition into race walking when his club entered a team in the TT Relay (1970?). He always walked the mountain section, as he was one of the fittest footballers around at that time, and he just got the bug. What happened after that is history. I don’t think that football was demanding enough for him really, as he would run a couple of miles before a match and a couple after it. Walking was tailor made for him with his natural endurance.

Not many people will know though that Derek also competed in Bay Swims – Port Erin and Peel etc. I remember Frank Huntley (an ex-walker of the 1980’s) telling me a funny story a couple of years ago about when he competed in a Bay swim against Derek. He was so chuffed that he beat Derek on this occasion (the only time he ever beat him in anything). But through clenched teeth and no eye contact, he owned up to the fact that Derek decided to adopt the breast stroke on this one occasion so it would be a fairer competition (and make it harder on himself of course). Nobody swims using the breast stroke in the sea, it has to be the crawl – well except for one man of course. I’m sure if Derek had have swam the channel, he could have managed it, using the breast stroke as well.

Of course there will be some folk who reckon Derek’s greatest achievement was to bounce back after a number of hip operations and two strokes and be able to complete the End to End in 2005 and the Parish in 2006 (25 hours). And who would argue?
Until fairly recently anyway, he was swimming 7 miles a week.
Derek may also have the record, I think, for donating the most amount of pints of blood (blood donor) in the last 40 years or so. A truly amazing man for sure.

After Derek got keen in the walking he dropped out of the CRHS Old Scholars Relay team to concentrate more on his race walking but he was ably replaced by John Curphey.

Another southern based athlete. John was a fine footballer in his day who played for Castletown, Ronaldsway, and Rushen on the wing. He also played for the Island several times. John was once described by another fine Southern athlete, Gareth Jones, as the best footballer Manx footballer he’d ever played with or even seen. Gareth a top local referee these days, is still rated as one of the best soccer players the Island has produced, so that’s a pretty good reference, is it not.

Unfortunately John stopped playing football in the early 70’s after a bad road accident on his bike threatened his football career. It was then that he decided to give race walking a go. And good he was too. His best time for the Parish is 18hrs 28 in 1979 (finished it also in 1978). He became a decent 10km walker as well - he got down to 51 minutes. But about the mid 1980’s he drifted out of the sport. John was replaced by Don Higgins in the Old Scholars TT Relay team.

Don was a good walker and runner and filled the gap left by John Curphey admirably. He was a 36 minute 10km runner and completed the Parish in 1992 in 20 hrs 43. He has completed a few marathons in his time and was generally a good all rounder.

Presumably this was the criteria to get into this exclusive club. Prove to us you were educated at Castle Rushen, can do at least 3 sports to a good standard, be able to finish the Parish and you can walk for us. I jest of course.

Last but not least is Ron Ronan (he walked the last leg). Like Dave Wilkie, he still competes in the Handicap Walks to this day. I can’t imagine between himself and Dave how many Handicap League walks the two of them have done. Must be hundreds and all since about 1970.

Ron completed the Parish in 1974 in 20 hours 40 mins. Like Dave with his tennis commitments he never had the opportunity to become a Centurion.

Ron was the member of the team who walked the last leg (Black Hut – Grandstand). I well remember when walking for St Johns Football team and Foxdale Table Tennis team (ask Ian Callister) in the early 1970’s (different years of course) it was the CRHS team who we were in battle with us for first place. And on those two occasions, it came down to a sprint finish down Glen Crutchery Road towards the Grandstand and I seem to recall the teams I was representing came out on top. I’m sure Ron doesn’t need to be reminded of that.

Ron’s best time for 10km was 54 minutes and like the Dave and the two John’s had other interests other than walking. But his boast is surely the fact that he has competed in 26 End to End Walks (if you count last year). This must surely be the most any body has completed this event. In addition he has completed the Peel to Douglas walk 28 times (one behind John Cannell). I think he’s probably knocked up a few TT walks also.

On the running front, Ron has also completed the London Marathon 10 times and the Great North Run 7 times.

Ron of course was a fine footballer, a defender, and was like Dave, a very loyal Castletown man. He played for the Junior Island team 7 times and 10 for the Senior XI. And like Dave, was a perfect gentleman on the field. I remember having some close games playing for St Johns against Castletown when he and Dave were still playing.

But perhaps his favourite sport is tennis. He has won 19 Island titles in his tennis career, which comprise the singles, the mixed, and mens doubles. Dave Wilkie has partnered him on a number of occasions in the mens doubles.

Ron is also still playing badminton by the way as well as tennis.

Like Dave Wilkie, Ron is excellent to assist in marshalling the big events, like the Parish.

In a nutshell the Old Scholars (all of them) are fantastic sports ambassadors, superb role models, perfect gentlemen and nice chaps with it.

We salute you.

RL