A history of the walk events, which are controversially absent from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Track walks were first held in the Olympics in 1906 and the road 50km was introduced in 1932, but the Commonwealth organisers ignored the walks until 1966. That was ended finally in Kingston in the curious form of a 20 mile walk. Two former Olympic champions, Norman Read and Don Thompson, who had been denied a Commonwealths at their peak, competed, but the winner was Ron Wallwork, who is still a walks organiser and supplies AW with results. He clocked 2:44:42.8 in hot conditions to win from English teammate Ray Middleton with Read third and Thompson fourth.

Wallwork, who led early on, was fifth in Edinburgh in 1970 as 1960 Olympic silver medallist Noel Freeman won gold for Australia. Scotland s Bill Sutherland won bronze.

The 1974 event in Christchurch, which was again over 20 miles despite all other events going metric in 1970, saw another England one-two from Sheffield pairing John Warhurst and Roy Thorpe. Curiously seven of the 15 contestants were born in Guernsey or the Isle of Man.

For 1978 in Edmonton, the distance was shortened slightly to 30km and Olly Flynn gave England another victory, having coped with the heat, in a race strangely held at 3pm. Britain took the honours in Brisbane in 2002, though this time gold went to Wales as Steve Barry won by more than two minutes in a British record time of 2:10:16, although of course, outside the Commonwealths, this event was rarely contested.

In Edinburgh in 1986, Simon Baker took two minutes off Barry s Games record. In third England s Ian McCombie was just outside Barry s time. In Auckland, Canadian Guillaume Leblanc, who had been third in 1982 and second in 1986, moved up to gold as McCombie won a second bronze. Mark Easton, whose pictures regularly appear in AW, was fifth, two places ahead of Baker.

The first ever women s walk was held over 10km there and Kerry Saxby, who had set 22 world records, won easily. England s Lisa
Langford won bronze.

In 1994 in Victoria, Saxby retained her title and Australia also won gold through Welshborn Nick A hern with former Brit Tim Berrett finishing second for Canada.

When the Commonwealths finally included an Olympic distance walk in the form of a 20km and 50km in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, 68 years late, A Hern won his second gold in the shorter event. In the 50km, New Zealand s Craig Barrett built up a huge lead but, dehydrated, he slumped by the roadside a kilometre from the finish and dropped out and Malaysia s Govinaswamy Saravanan delighted the home crowd.

Malaysia also expected to win a medal in the women s walk through former Chinese Tuan Yufang, but she was disqualified while disputing the lead and gold again went to Australia. Jane Saville won from Saxby with Lisa Kehler (formerly Langford) winning her second bronze.

Saville, who had been disqualified from the Sydney Olympics and 2001 World Championships, won the first women s 20km with Kehler second and Tuan Yufang third. Australia also won both men s events as Nathan Deakes gained a fine double. Third in the 20km in 1998, he won by 28 seconds as David Kimutai won Kenya s first walks medal in third. In the 50km, he stopped twice with cramp but still set a Games record as Barrett fared better this time and finished second from near namesake Berrett.

Deakes added two more golds in Melbourne in 2006 as he won the 20km in a worldclass 1:19:55 to head an Australian cleansweep. He won the 50km by an astonishing 15 minutes as he took 10 minutes off his own Games record with 3:42:53. In the women s walk, there was another Australian clean sweep as Saville won again, this time from her sister, Natalie.

In Delhi in 2010, Australia gained a one-two in the 20km, Jared Tallent winning from Luke Adams, who won his third successive silver. Tallent s wife, Claire, finished second in the women s 20km as finally England won another title through the dominant Johanna Jackson.

There was no 50km walk and controversially Glasgow 2014 has omitted walks completely.

Gold medal winners - Men s 20 miles walk

1966 Ron Wallwork (ENG) 2:44:42.8
1970 Noel Freeman (AUS) 2:33:33
1974 John Warhurst (ENG) 2:35:23.0

Gold medal winners – Men s 30km walk

1978 Olly Flynn (ENG) 2:22:03.7
1982 Steve Barry (WAL) 2:10:16
1986 Simon Baker (AUS) 2:07:47
1990 Guillaume Leblanc (CAN) 2:08:28
1994 Nick A Hern (AUS) 2:07:53

Gold medal winners – Men s 20km walk

1998 Nick A Hern (AUS) 1:24:59
2002 Nathan Deakes (AUS) 1:25:35
2006 Nathan Deakes (AUS) 1:19:55
2010 Jarred Tallent (AUS) 1:22:18

Gold medal winners – Men s 50km walk

1998 Govindaswamy Saravanan (MAL) 4:10:05
2002 Nathan Deakes (AUS) 3:52:40
2006 Nathan Deakes (AUS) 3:42:53

Gold medal winners – Women s 10km walk

1990 Kerry Saxby (AUS) 45:03
1994 Kerry Saxby-Junna (AUS) 44:25
1998 Jane Saville (AUS) 43:57

Gold medal winners – Women s 20km walk

2002 Jane Saville (AUS) 1:36:34
2006 Jane Saville (AUS) 1:32:46
2010 Johanna Jackson (ENG) 1:34:22

British medallists – men

Gold: Wallwork (Eng, 1966), Warhurst (Eng, 1974), Flynn (Eng, 1978)
Silver: Ray Middleton (Eng, 1966), Roy Thorpe (Eng, 1974)
Bronze: Bill Sutherland (Sco, 1970), Ian McCombie (Eng, 1986, 1990)

British medallists – women

Gold: Jackson (Eng, 2010)
Silver: Lisa Langford/Kehler (Eng, 2002)
Bronze: Langford (Eng, 1990, 1998)
Most successful athlete and Briton: For the women, Aussie Saville won three successive golds but Jackson is the only women s winner, but Langford/Kehler won three medals. For the men, Deakes has won four golds and Wallwork with a gold and fifth place is the most successful Brit.

Find other event-by-event histories here and an overall history of the Commonwealth Games here

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