A champion race walker has spoken about his experiences competing with the crème de la crème of the sport.

In the Express, we revealed archive photos of a 10-mile road walking championship in Macclesfield had been released by Pathe films. The clips were from the Northern Counties Championship in 1951, with dozens taking part in the walking race around Sutton.

One competitor was Don Warren, now 88, a former UK road walking champion who competed against some of the greatest names in the sport.

Former Cheshire champion Don, who lives in Tytherington with his wife Jean, said: “The road race in Sutton was started by Sutton Walking Club in 1947 during the war to try and get morale up. I came home from the war when I was 20 and started to take part.

“Not long after I started competing the Lancashire champion Jack Chidlow came to compete in the race. He was leaving me standing with his technique, so I started to copy it and that was that, I could keep up – I finished just 11 seconds behind him.

“Through the hard work of people in the local community – including Eric Oldfield, Cyril Ball and Harry Pownall, Bill Drewitt and Alan Simpkins – the Sutton race was affiliated to the Amateur Athletic Association and the Road Walking Association.”

After discovering his new passion, Don used to walk more than 3,500 miles a year in races and training. Unfortunatley, a tendon injury he picked up in the 60s put an end to his racing career.

Former pharmaceuticals worker Don added: “It meant everything to me. I raced all around the country in any race I could.

“My first wife used to say I was like a tramp because I was never off the road.

“There were a lot of people in Sutton who were very good racers and put a lot into the sport.

“One, Margaret Francis, ran for England and beat the record for 100 yards when she was in high school.

“In 1951 Sheffield Harriers came down to have a race with us. They had two international racers, Laurence Allen and Roland Hardy, who went on to represent Great Britain at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

“I competed against them when they came back to the UK after they had been competing in Australia.

“I was given a five-yard head start which wasn’t very much, but in all the races from then they very rarely, if ever, caught me.”

Don Warren in his road racing heydey.