It is with regret that we have to announce the death of former Sussex Runner and Race Walker Dave Boxall after a lengthy illness. He was born in Oct 1933 and was eighty-nine.
Dave joined the Brighton & Hove Athletic Club in the late fifties as a distance runner.
He became a regular and reliable member of their Cross Country and Road Running squads but when he turned to race walking in the sixties he found his real mark in athletics.
He became a challenger for Sussex titles not only with the club but at county level.
Roy Taylor tells me that when he compiled the Brighton “All time top performers lists” when the UK adopted metric distances in 1969. In the two-mile walk list Dave was the second best to Olympian and County record holder Arthur Jones who clocked 13:35.6s to Dave’s 14:37.0s. 
David’ real forte proved to be the longer distance races, 20 mile or longer he is believed to be the only Sussex athlete to complete the, now defunct, London to Brighton Road Walk and also the London to Brighton Run.
He was the winner of many Sussex medals but we think his only Sussex title came late in his career when, in his sixties, he won the 20-mile crown and at the time became the oldest person to win a Sussex title.
In 1980 he was awarded the Race Walking Association’s Walker of the Year trophy and this was presented to him by the R.W.A President Johnny Henderson, himself a top Sussex Walker in the pre and post WWII war period.
He was the only Sussex walker to ever complete the Strasbourg to Paris Walk of nearly 500km while on the UK best performance lists he is still ranked fourth over 100km (app 62 miles) Track walk in 10hrs.04.m.05s in 1975, 2nd in the 200km list in 22h.42m.00s in 1978. He also stands at 3rd on the UK Lists for 24 hour walk covering 215km (app 130 miles.
Many tributes have been received paying tribute to his always cheery and friendly manner and some of these have come from his fellow European Ultra Long distance walkers including French International walker Denis Dugust.
Dave’s Funeral will be at the Downs Crematorium at 1.00 on Weds 8th February. Donations in memory of his remarkable life to Dementia Charities.