Tributes paid to Dave Boxall - a popular ultra marathon runner and walker

He was born and grew up in Newhaven October 28, 1933, and lived in Peacehaven. He died on January 8, at 89-years-old.

Centurion running events involve 50 and 100 mile ultra marathons. He qualified as C464 at Ewhurst 1971 in 18 hours 26 minutes 33 seconds, and he won 6 times in 1972, 1973,1974,1975, 1979 and 1980. His best time was 1979 Ewhurst, 17 hours 24 minutes – thought to be the tenth best men’s time for UK Centurion completions

His completions were all sub 20 hours except the last, Kings Lynn 2005 in 22 hours 11 minutes 10 seconds. He was 72 years of age when he achieved this completion. In the 1970s, Dave competed in France in a number of qualifying races for the Paris-Strasbourg ultra-distance classic. He won these events in 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1978. His 1978 completion may be the second fastest 200kms recorded by a UK walker.

He never seems to have entered the Paris-Strasbourg (despite clearly qualifying), leaving that to his compatriots Colin Young and John (Paddy) Dowling. He subsequently said he never had the funds to put together a team to compete.

In later life, he gave generously to the Centurions before succumbing to ill health.

Alan Buchanan said: “A sad ending for a popular runner and walker we have known for 60 years and was with me in Hove when the first flakes of snow fell on Boxing Day 1962 preceding that terrible winter. RIP Dave.”

Dave Ainsworth said: “When I qualified as a Centurion it was in 1974 (Leicester-to-Skegness) – Dave Boxall was the race winner. Dave won 4 consecutive 100 Miles races in the ’70s and when he won such events, it was always in the 17 hours time bracket. Nowadays they’re won in 19 hours or something – even 20 hours on occasions. Dave was a true all-time great.”

Mike Parker, New Zealand, said: “Really sad to receive the news about the death of an old club mate Dave Boxall. Occasionally Dave & I would pass each other at some un-Godly hour on a Sunday morning along the Coast Road between Brighton & Peacehaven. Dave heading towards Brighton me going the other direction, occasionally we might walk a couple of K’s together, usually it was just a high. He was a character that’s for sure, I thought I used to pack the miles in, but it was nothing compared to what Dave would do in his preparation for those ultra-long races. Sometimes he would walk all through the night, I suppose training himself for sleep deprivation. Every year at Xmas time Dave would walk from Peacehaven to Portsmouth where his mother-in-law lived. Dave’s wife was the sensible one, she drove there. I used to think he was crazy, but really, he was just a great character. R.I.P Dave.”

Information on Dave’s life was collected by Betty and Chris Flint & Sandra and Richard Brown.