IT WAS exactly 49 years ago this month that a Rochdalian very nearly walked his way into the town’s annals of endeavour and achievement when a 42-year-old Turf Hill man set out on a foot-slogging 373-mile journey from the capital of Scotland to the capital of England.

Eddie Gomersall, a rubber worker, had set himself the formidable goal of beating a record set by the famous marathon walker, the great Dr Barbara Moore, for reaching Marble Arch.

It was a walk of such epic proportions that even Dick Whittington would probably not have thought possible.

But by all accounts Eddie was a determined man and the Observer thought so, too, sponsoring his attempt with a support vehicle and front page coverage.

For the best part of 10 days early in 1960, Observer readers were enthralled to read of Eddie’s progress, the walk being covered from start to finish by reporter Alan G Fitzsimmons with help from a colleague, Derek Notley.

Eddie’s aim had been to walk 65 miles a day, a pace that would have meant him reaching London in just over five days.

He was planning on just four hours’ sleep a day, with soups, sandwiches, fruit drinks and yeast tablets comprising the greater part of his diet.

He had not trained for the walk. For 15 years previously, during the Second World War, while a prisoner of the Germans, he had completed a forced march of 1,700 miles.

He had emerged from that ordeal intact. He was confident he could do the Edinburgh-London marathon as well.

It was an epic farewell from Edinburgh Castle, the ancient fortress which overlooks Scotland’s capital, on Saturday 9 January 1960.

Eddie had started his long journey at exactly 1pm just after the Time Gun in the Half Moon Battery of the famous castle echoed a timely farewell.

Police sergeant Norman Clarke of Edinburgh City Police had verified the time because Eddie knew, as did thousands of his supporters back in Rochdale, that everything had to be done precisely if he was to claim the £250 prize offered by a London car dealer to anyone who could eclipse Dr Moore’s record time.

Dr Barbara Moore was a Russian-born health enthusiast who gained celebrity status as a long distance walker in the early 1960s.

After completing the Edinburgh to London walk, she then walked from John O’Groats to Land’s End and followed this by walking from San Franciso to New York City. She died in 1977 at the age of 74.

A crowd of spectators had watched as Eddie marched proudly away from the castle, among them scores of flag-waving Frenchmen who were in the city for the rugby union match between France and Scotland.

But his smart start was somewhat tarnished when he turned a wrong corner and strode off at five miles an hour – along the wrong route!

Perhaps it was a portent of what was to come but, at that time, no-one bothered unduly for the Observer reporter covering the walk soon tracked down Eddie, stepping out boldly on the A68 – the route that Dr Moore had followed.

Originally the plan had been for Eddie to follow the A7 but by now it was too late to turn back and he had to continue through the bleak and bitterly cold hills and dales of the Edinburgh area to the town of Lauder, which he reached at 8.20pm.

By midnight he was within eight miles of Jedburgh, the last place of any significant size on the A68 before the border with England.

Camp was made for the night in a lay-by but it was so cold that washing-up water, discarded after the main meal of the day, froze solid within a few minutes.

But Eddie slept soundly in his sleeping bag provided by the Famous Army Stores.

The next morning he passed though Jedburgh and then it was on to England and the county of Northumberland before Eddie halted for a four-hour sleep in the support Dormobile.

By 1am he was up and refreshed, knowing that he still had ‘just’ 293 miles to go.

On Monday evening he had reached Catterick on the Great North Road (A1), where he took a well-earned, extended rest.

By Friday, Eddie, the ex-prisoner of war, was just 80 miles from London and almost within sight of his goal.

With 300 miles already behind him, the courageous walker sent the following message to his family at their home in Rothesay Terrace, Turf Hill: "Even if I wear my boots through to the skin, even if it kills me, I’ll get there. You can tell the mayor (of Rochdale) I will not let him down."

It was stirring, heart-warming stuff but Eddie was no ordinary man.

The only question now was, could he make Marble Arch in time to claim the £250 prize?

His thick-soled leather boots were worn down to the heels, making it necessary for him to change occasionally into a pair of ‘rubber pumps’ but this slowed him down considerably, forcing him to haul his boots on again.

But the walk was to end in personal anguish, for the final six miles to Marble Arch proved just too much for bold Eddie.

It had been a tremendous effort but, in the end, a combination of shocking weather and general fatigue had the final say.

It had happened at 8.40pm on the Saturday as Eddie, so close to the finish, clambered into the trailing Dormobile and collapsed unconscious, physically and mentally exhausted.

He had been just four and a half hours off claiming the record – and the rich prize on offer.

Later, as he was driven slowly past the elusive Marble Arch, he justifiably broke into tears.

And so ended a fantastic effort by the Turf Hill man whose attempts to achieve a world record time for the Edinburgh to London marathon had come so, oh ever so close, to success.

By the time he returned to Rochdale the following evening he had regained enough strength to be driven straight to the Mayfield Hotel where he was given a great reception.

The next day he was back to meet workmates at Dexine Rubber and Ebonite Company where he confided to his mates that he had not yet given up the idea of long distance walking.

In the spring he planned to challenge Dr Moore for the John O’Groats to Land’s End record.

‘Twinkletoes’ Gomersall, as his mates had dubbed him, was not ready to quit yet.

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