Sign up for this year’s Manx Telecom Parish Walk before midnight on January 31 and you could get up to ?15 off the full entry fee. Entry before that date costs ?30, or just ?25 if you are a Manx Telecom mobile customer thanks to the event’s title sponsor. All entries must be made online at www.parishwalk.com.  From February 1 to March 31 the entry fee is ?35, and ?40 from April 1 until the final closing date on May 7.

The 85-mile race starts at the NSC on Saturday June 17 and finishes near the war memorial on Douglas Promenade as usual. Certificates will be awarded to all walkers who complete the full distance 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. For 2017, there will again be a competition for younger walkers aged 18 to 21 completing the 32.5 miles to Peel. There’s a Corporate Team Award for teams of four walkers who are all from the same Isle of Man based company and with no more than one walker who has previously completed the full 85 mile distance. And there’s an Overall Team category for four walkers which cannot include more than two who have completed the full 85 miles. In both of the team competitions the winners will be decided by the highest aggregate distance covered by all four members, and all participants in the team competitions must enter individually and include their team names.

Manx Telecom has been the Parish Walk’s title sponsor since 2012, but the company’s support for the event goes back to 2007 when it began sponsoring the official timing and results service.

Competitors are reminded that under race rules the wearing of headphones or similar devices is prohibited, unless such devices are required for medical reasons. 

Photo –A scene from the 2016 Manx Telecom Parish Walk.