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Roger Black to compete in this year's Parish Walk
LEGENDARY British athlete Roger Black, who won gold medals at the European and World Championships as well as the Commonwealth Games, will be endorsing and hopefully competing in this year's Scottish Widows Parish Walk, it has been announced.
The 44-year-old, who also won a silver medal in the 400m event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, will be making a series of personal appearances in the build up to the Parish Walk which begins at 8am on Saturday, June 26 at the National Sports Centre in Douglas.
Joining Black in backing the event is Paralympian gold medallist Sarah Storey, one of Britain's most successful female paralympians and second only to Dame Tanni Grey Thompson.
Since making her debut as a swimmer at the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, where she won gold in the 100m backstroke, Storey has gained 27 gold medals in various events around the world and has broken no fewer than 53 world records along the way.
Last year saw a record entry of participants and race director Ray Cox, of Manx Harriers, is anticipating even more this year: 'If early statistics are anything to go by we are hoping to beat last year's record entry of 1,620 competitors.
We are delighted and excited by the response and encourage everyone to get their entries in early. Organisationally, it will be the best yet!'
The increasingly successful 85-mile long Parish Walk has been sponsored by Clerical Medical International for 20 years but the new branding follows the integration of the Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical sales teams in the UK which was announced in April of last year.
CMI's Isle of Man-based managing director, Dean Waddingham, commented: 'We are delighted to offer our continued support to the Parish Walk which is becoming renowned throughout the UK and we therefore see ongoing and mutual benefits of associating it with a famous brand such as Scottish Widows.'
The merger between the sales forces of the two companies has provided an increase of around 60 per cent in UK distribution capability, also ensuring that CMI can build on its current position as one of the top offshore bond providers into the UK high net worth market.
Scottish Widows have also announced the launch of the Parish Walk Charity Challenge 2010. This is an invitation to financial services companies to submit teams of four to raise money for charity.
The team which raises the most money will then be named Parish Walk Charity Challenge Champions of 2010.
This year marks the 50th year since the event began in its current form, although it did not take place on two occasions during the 1960s.
Therefore, the 50th anniversary of the Parish Walk will be in 2012 and will be backed by the current sponsors, which marks a busy year for the pensions and investments provider as they will also be sponsoring the London Olympics.
Entries are open until Saturday, May 15. For further information or to enter visit www.parishwalk.com
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Weather for Isle of Man
Thursday 09 February 2012
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