Sign up for this year’s Manx Telecom Parish Walk before midnight on January 31 and you could get up to ?15 off the full entry fee. Entry before that time costs just ?30, but if you are a Manx Telecom mobile customer you will also receive an additional ?5 discount thanks to the event’s title sponsor. All entries must be made online at www.parishwalk.com and the final closing date is May 8. From February 1 to March 31 the entry fee is ?35, and ?40 from April 1 until the final closing date.

The 85-mile race is on Saturday June 18, starting as usual at the NSC. Certificates will be awarded to all walkers who complete the full 85-miles in under 24 hours. Sub 18 hour finishers receive a gold certificate, 18 to 21 hour finishers receive silver, and 21 to 24 hour finishers, bronze. For 2016, there will again be a competition for younger walkers aged 18 to 21 completing the 32.5 miles to Peel. There’s a Corporate Team Award with prizes donated by Manx Telecom for teams of four walkers who are all from the same Isle of Man based company and with no more than one walker who has previously completed the full 85 mile distance. And there’s an Overall Team category for four walkers which cannot include more than two who have completed the full 85 miles. In both of the team competitions the winners will be decided by the highest aggregate distance covered by all four members, and all participants in the team competitions must enter individually and include their team names.

Manx Telecom has been the Parish Walk’s title sponsor since 2012, but the company’s support for the event goes back to 2007 when it began sponsoring the official timing and results service. In the 2015 event defending champion Richard Gerrard won the race and set a new record time of 14hrs 40mins 08secs, knocking more than two minutes off the previous best time. Janette Morgan retained the women’s title and finished ninth in the overall standings. Michael George and David Walker finished second and third respectively in the men’s event, while Karen Chiarello and Stephanie Quayle were second and third in the ladies’ race. A total of 175 walkers completed the full 85-mile course within 24 hours. The under-21s winners were Alex Eaton and Danielle Oates who both won in 2014 too.

Photo - A scene from the 2015 Manx Telecom Parish Walk.