Tom Partington and Mia Dunwell made a successful start to the 2023 season at the England Indoor Race Walking Championships on Sunday.

Competing in the senior men’s 3,000-metre event at Sheffield, Partington led from the gun to retain the title he won 12 months ago.

The 23-year-old Manx Harrier was unsure of his form going into what is the shortest race on the championship calendar, illness having disrupted training during December.

Amidst pretty strict judging*, he did not take any chances and did enough to secure the win, coming in ahead of Bexley’s Luc Legon, with team-mate Matthew Crane third.

The women’s 3,000m race was again a cagey affair and the pace in the final kilometre was certainly influenced by the judges.

Dunwell started cautiously and tracked two of her age group rivals over the first five laps of the tightly-banked 200m track.

As those around her were given cautions, the Ramsey teenager moved into a strong fourth place. Tiring over the closing laps, she picked up cautions herself and was overtaken, but was pleased to finish fifth.

In doing so, the 17-year-old Northern AC walker took the gold medal in the Under-20 England Championship that was incorporated into the senior event.

The next off-island event will be the UK Indoor Race Walking Championships, which will be held in the National Indoor Arena at Birmingham on February 19.

Both Tom and Mia would like to thank Isle of Man Sport for their continued assistance.

* Indoor race walking championships have four judges positioned round the 200-metre track. That means the walkers pass a judge every 50 metres – a total of 60 times in a 3km race.

It is a fast event, and the banked bends can make maintaining a good technique difficult.

STEVE PARTINGTON