In his first off-Isle of Man event, Samuel Fletcher secured victory in the Guernsey Church to Church Walk at the weekend.
The event was celebrating its 80th anniversary and Fletcher was one of four walkers to make an early break, instigated by local brothers Stuart and Jason Le Noury and former winner Jim Ball of Steyning AC.
The Guernsey siblings set the pace on early short climbs away from the start on South Esplanade, closely tracked by Fletcher. After five miles the four were covered by 36 seconds.
At 10 miles, Stuart Le Noury led from Ball and Fletcher, but the Le Noury brothers both went through bad patches shortly afterwards. Approraching the 15-mile mark at Vale Church, Ball led by nine seconds from Fletcher.
The latter man then showed his strength and took control of the race to eventually win by five minutes, with Stuart Le Noury a similar margin down in third.
Manx Harriers athlete Sam completed the 19.4-mile undulating course in a time of 3hr 07min 45sec to become only the second male Manx winner of the event after Michael George in 2010 and 2012.
Many other walkers from the Isle of Man have contested the race in the past, including Vinny Lynch, Jock Waddington and Steve Partington.
Marie Jackson secured the women’s title in 2010 and 2011.
It has been an up and down season for Fletcher, who had high hopes for the Parish Walk after taking joint victory alongside Dave Walker in April’s 50km Firefighters Memorial Walk.
After holding a top-five position for most of the Parish, he was forced to withdraw with a hamstring injury after reaching approx 72 miles and retiring at Glen Mona.
Victory in the Guernsey Church to Church Walk was perfect preparation for the End to End Walk which takes place in a week on Sunday, September 18.
He was runner-up in 2015 and hopes to be among the leaders this year. Entries for the event are now closed.