Entries open for annual 24-hour Parish Walk

Many competitors spend months preparing for the June event

Entries for an annual 85-mile (137km) challenge which sees competitors touch the doors of all 17 parish churches on the Isle of Man have opened.

The annual Parish Walk, which sees participants complete the route within a 24-hour time limit, takes place on 21June next year, with entries open until 4 May.

This year's event, which saw just under 1,100 take on the route, was won by Dean Morgan in a time of just over fifteen-and-a-half hours.

Race organiser Raymond Cox said with personal goals on many people's minds as a new year approached, registering early would leave "plenty of time to prepare and train".

The record finishing time for the event stands at 14 hours 40 minutes, which was set by Richard Gerrard in 2015.

The event started off at the turn of the 20th Century as a competition to see who could walk further than the others.

Although the first organised walk took place in 1913, a formal route for the contest was not set until the 1960s.