Back in the mists of time there was a key rite of passage to becoming a true fell runner. Drawing around your foot and sending the print off to P. Bland esq along with a cheque for £38.99. In return you would receive you first pair of Walshes, PB trainer or racer. Now, you could safely show your face at races, confident you would fit in as a committed contender.
Over the decades, brash new upstarts turned the heads of wannabe racers to the point that I would often be the sole runner sporting a pair of Walshes.
I worried that the company would not survive.
But recently, a renaissance seems to be happening. My personal choice of soshull meedja started bombarding me with ads for Walsh leisureware shoes, so much so that I caved in and bought a pair. And then, as I was walking past a swanky high end shoe shop in central London, I noticed that the window display was exclusively Walshes, produced in collaboration with the shop chain.
So hats off to the Walsh management for putting up a fight over their apparent demise as the number one choice of fell runners. Good luck to this new initiative.