The 63rd edition of the Manx Telecom Parish Walk in its modern era takes place this weekend, starting from the National Sports Centre in Douglas at 8am on Saturday.

Two competitors among the 1,186 entered for the full distance 85-mile event will be attempting to achieve a hat-trick by winning for the third year in succession, but each will be up against stiff opposition.

Dean Morgan and Lorna Gleave were first home in the 2023 and 2024 events, and both are among the favourites again this weekend.

The latter improved on her winning time of 2023 by 1min 18sec last year and has remained in good form over the past 12 months, but Morgan (whose winning overall time of 15hr 33m 18s last year was more than six minutes down on 2023) has had a number of injuries and disruptions to his training schedule.

He finished last year’s Parish in considerable discomfort with a shin injury that slowed him. Dean was runner-up in the End to End last September, but has since had more issues with the foot flexor and a long-standing hernia which will ultimately require an operation.

Amongst those up against him this time will be fellow double winner Paul Atherton, five-time winner and record holder Richard Gerrard and two men with the same surname who are not related - Callum and Simon Gawne.

Any one of the five could be likely winners, but Gerrard - who last won in 2018 - would probably write himself off as the least favourite. He’s had his share of injuries in recent years and now concentrates more on running marathons.

Atherton is an excellent runner who also prefers marathons to long-distance walking, so perhaps he may also be looking for a top-three finish similar to last year.

So, can either of the two Gawnes step up to the mantle?

Simon has been trying hard for a number of years now and has led the race as far as Peel on two or three occasions, only to fade or hit injury issues in the second half.

Callum, who works at Peel Clothworkers School, finished joint runner-up last year with Atherton.

He went on to beat Morgan in the End to End Walk in September and also win the Syd Quirk Half Marathon walk in November. He appears to have the pace and the stamina, so perhaps it will be his year.

Others likely to feature strongly include Ryan Surridge (fourth last year), Connor Gilbert, Stu Osborne, David Williams and Chris Addy. Robbie Callister is going for a ‘leisurely’ walk.

Lorna Gleave was fifth overall and clear winner of the women’s race, going on to also win the E2E and Syd Quirk walk for the second year in succession.

Sammy Bowden won back-to-back editions of the Parish in 2021 and 2022, with a personal best time of 16:38.51 - a full 47 minutes quicker than Gleave’s personal best.

So it’s all about form and fitness, and that will only become evident on the day.

Other women in with a shout are seven-time finisher Jayne Farquhar and Bernie Johnson (winner in 2018), but she is another whose focus is on marathons at present.

A further 41 men and 51 women have entered the under-21 race to Peel (32.5 miles) from which Catherine Perry is the only previous winner (last year in 6h 42m 33s).