Its always good to see and read about promising junior athletes, even though the stupid over the top child protection rules prevent me from identifying a junior athlete in a photo these days, and I am always impressed by older athletes who fight their ageing bodies to slow less than they should.
However, even in the Parish Walk, where people think that age and experience count, and they do, the best performances should come from people under 35. The problem with sport across the whole of the British Isles, and most of Europe, is that it is the people at (potentially) their peak years who are least interested in committing themselves to the lifestyle that makes a top athlete.
I'm heartened to see that the entry profile for the Parish Walk is healthier for the women than the men. There are 210 women under the age of 40 compared to 172 men. Assuming that a reasonable proportion continue in the years ahead, it strengthens my belief that there will be more women than men taking part in future years.
For the moment the totals are exactly even - 411 men and the same number of women.
| Women over 21 under 40 | 210 |
| Women over 40 | 129 |
| Women over 50 | 60 |
| Women over 60 | 11 |
| Women over 70 | 1 |
| Men over 21 under 40 | 172 |
| Men over 40 | 130 |
| Men over 50 | 81 |
| Men over 60 | 24 |
| Men over 70 | 4 |
| Total | 822 |
| Men | 411 |
| Women | 411 |
Mark my words - watch the percentage of finishers of the female variety increase from the best to date of just under a third to half the field in the next 10 years.
| Year | Male | Female | Total | Male | Female |
| 1960 | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1961 | 9 | 9 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1962 | 6 | 6 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1963 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 66.7% | 33.3% |
| 1964 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 83.3% | 16.7% |
| 1967 | 7 | 7 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1968 | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1969 | 10 | 10 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1970 | 3 | 3 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1971 | 10 | 10 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1972 | 7 | 7 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1973 | 6 | 6 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1974 | 3 | 3 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1975 | 5 | 5 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1976 | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1977 | 1 | 1 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1978 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 87.5% | 12.5% |
| 1979 | 6 | 6 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1980 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 85.7% | 14.3% |
| 1981 | 9 | 9 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1982 | 8 | 8 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1983 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 90.0% | 10.0% |
| 1984 | 7 | 7 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1985 | 15 | 15 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1986 | 14 | 14 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1987 | 13 | 13 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1988 | 6 | 6 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1989 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 75.0% | 25.0% |
| 1990 | 6 | 6 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1991 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 77.8% | 22.2% |
| 1992 | 15 | 1 | 16 | 93.8% | 6.3% |
| 1993 | 12 | 12 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1994 | 12 | 12 | 100.0% | 0.0% | |
| 1995 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 90.9% | 9.1% |
| 1996 | 18 | 1 | 19 | 94.7% | 5.3% |
| 1997 | 19 | 5 | 24 | 79.2% | 20.8% |
| 1998 | 26 | 9 | 35 | 74.3% | 25.7% |
| 1999 | 17 | 4 | 21 | 81.0% | 19.0% |
| 2000 | 30 | 6 | 36 | 83.3% | 16.7% |
| 2001 | 36 | 8 | 44 | 81.8% | 18.2% |
| 2002 | 52 | 11 | 63 | 82.5% | 17.5% |
| 2003 | 48 | 16 | 64 | 75.0% | 25.0% |
| 2004 | 74 | 26 | 100 | 74.0% | 26.0% |
| 2005 | 67 | 31 | 98 | 68.4% | 31.6% |
| 2006 | 117 | 46 | 163 | 71.8% | 28.2% |
| 2007 | 113 | 40 | 153 | 73.9% | 26.1% |
| 2008 | 87 | 34 | 121 | 71.9% | 28.1% |
| 2009 | 129 | 58 | 187 | 69.0% | 31.0% |
| 2010 | 90 | 43 | 133 | 67.7% | 32.3% |
| 2011 | 116 | 43 | 159 | 73.0% | 27.0% |
| Grand Total | 1298 | 394 | 1692 | 76.7% | 23.3% |
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