Manx Telecom Parish Walk Race Director Ray Cox
wearing an example of a 2015 race number with a Pic2Go bar code.
More
than 1,000 walkers have already signed up for this year’s Manx Telecom Parish Walk,
and if you’re quick you can join them and get a £5 discount on the full price
of the entry fee. The walk, which is the Island’s biggest mass participation
sporting and community event, takes place on Saturday June 20.
Enter before
midnight on March 31 and it costs just £35. The full price of £40 applies from
April 1 until the final entry deadline on May 10. All entries must be made
online at www.parishwalk.com and everyone who signs
up gets a fantastic commemorative technical tee-shirt. Certificates will be
awarded to all walkers who complete the full 85-miles in under 24 hours. Sub 18
hour finishers receive a gold certificate, 18 to 21 hour finishers receive silver,
and 21 to 24 hour finishers, bronze.
There is a Corporate Team Award for
teams of four walkers who are all from the same Isle of Man based company.
Teams may include no more than one walker who has previously completed the full
85 mile distance. The winners will be the team with the highest aggregate
distance covered by all four members. In the event of a tie on mileage, the
fastest aggregate time for the four walkers will determine the winners. The
Overall Team race is for four walkers and cannot include more than two previous
finishers who have completed the full 85 miles. The rules for determining the
winners are the same as those for the Corporate Team Award. All participants in
the team competitions must enter individually and include their team names.
Younger
walkers aged 18 to 21 can also compete, with prizes for the first male and
first female competitors to cover the 32.5 miles to Peel. There’s also a
competition for teams of three in the same age group over the same distance.
The winners will be the trio with the fastest combined time, and there are
separate prizes for men’s and women’s teams.
For
the first time this year, walkers can also choose to have the pictures taken of
them on the day by official volunteer photographers uploaded automatically to
their Facebook page. Using the ‘Pic2Go’ service means that photos can be
instantly posted onto the walker’s timeline. It will be the first time that the
service has been available at any event in the Isle of Man and will be run on
an ‘opt in’ basis so only those walkers that choose it will have their photos
sent to Facebook. The service will also allow competitors to search for their
photographs on the parishwalk.com website using race numbers.
Pic2Go
works using software which recognises a unique barcode on the race number of
each walker, but using it at the Parish Walk has only been made possible thanks
to sponsorship from Manx Telecom, and because of the company’s superfast 4G
mobile broadband network which photographers will use to upload photos while
out and about around the course. Details of how to sign-up for the Pic2Go
service will be announced around two weeks before the Manx Telecom Parish Walk
takes place.