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Steyning Athletic Club walker Don Bearman reflecting on his competing at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. He finished fifth in the 20km walk.

On the race he said: "It was not the best I have ever had, but it was the hottest day of the year and a very hard course. The impact was on the legs rather than the road and at times I got isolated by the other runners".

On the last day of athletics being held at the City of Manchester Stadium, Bearman and Steyning colleague Gareth Brown got to do a lap of honour with their fellow England competitors around the arena.

Bearman said: "The crowd were cheering, it was excellent. I'm going to have a little break now, but will be back in training next week, I'd like to go to the World Cup (in Turin, Italy), but the selectors haven't picked a side yet".

Brown said the magic of competing at the Commonwealths rekindled his ambition and enjoyment of race walking.

His race was in complete contrast to Bearman's humid conditions. He competed in rain, thunder and lightning.

He said: "I had a bit of a disaster leading up to the race, with hamstring problems. I had massages every day of the build-up and I continued doing the one-hour training sessions that I would normally do, but I wasn't feeling great".

Brown finished 8th in the 50km walk and, looking back, he said: "Apart from the race it was a great experience. Everybody was very friendly and very helpful. We were staying in a flat with four individual rooms, a lounge and kitchen.

"In the over-flow of accomodation, after the athletics finished we moved out to bunk beds.

"I went to both ceremonies, the opening one was great, but the weather put a bit of a dampner on the closing ceremony as we were sitting in the pouring rain for two hours".

Brown, like Bearman, has not trained since his race but is looking to start again within the next week: "I normally train six days a week, and I am hoping to go to the World Cup in October".