FORMER Mayor of Warrington Geoff Settle has paid tribute to one of the greatest marathon runners of all time, Dr Ron Hill, who sadly died yesterday, aged 82.
Dr Hill from Hyde in Cheshire, who died following his battle with dementia, for which he had become an ambassador, will be sadly missed by the running community and beyond.
Former Mayor Geoff, who last saw Dr Hill just before lockdown said: “I remember presenting him with a framed set of photographs with good wishes from Seb Coe and Jimmy Hill. I had written to people asking them for their “Hilly Moments.”
Seb wrote that “His dedication was unsurpassed, and his favorite moment was seeing him in the Athens Marathon European Championships 1969.
Geoff, who outsprinted his teammate in the 1984 Tour of Tameside said: “I ran for Clayton-le-Moor Harriers and I was in the same club as Ron. By the end of the 52 miles of racing in a week he had given me enough tips for me to improve so much that I just beat him, and we came third team with bronze medals.”
Ron Hill met Warrington Athletic Club’s Chris Vose in 1961, when he took part in the Seven- and three-quarter mile road race named after the Olympian who captained the 1920 silver winning cross country team in Antwerp. The 1961 course started at the now Warrington Collegiate. Thirty years later Geoff invited Ron back as a veteran runner to take part in the now 10km road race. Ron now also an Olympian won the over 40’s title, whilst WAC’s Andy Green won the race.
Geoff has, like so many runners have, many great memories of the man. He added: “I used to love seeking out Ron at the start of the Rivington Pike Hill race in Horwich. We’d be at the back of the field having a good chat, the gun would go off and we would shuffle along picking our way through.
“Years before he would fly off and cover the distance to the tower and back like a mountain goat but as years went by, we both slowed down with me getting the edge until the last one that we both took part in when he left me for dust.
“I just watched as he climbed ahead of me and no matter what I did he just pulled away. Once around the Tower he came hurtling down like a teenager using all his skills and expertise.
“He used his drive, determination, belief and singlemindedness that won him so many medals, accolades and affection into his final battle with dementia. For the last years of his life, he served as an ambassador for Alzheimer’s and urged people to join the Dementia Revolution just as he had inspired so many of us to the sport that was his life.”
Ron Hill has been described as one of the greatest marathon runners of all time, who smashed the Boston Marathon record and also inspired the “streaking” movement by running every day for more than 52 years. Three years ago he announced that he was suffering from dementia.
Hill’s standing in elite running history rests on a superlative sequence of races that began in 1968, when he twice set the world track record for 10 miles (46:44.0). In 1969, he won the European marathon championship on the tough Marathon to Athens course. In April 1970, he broke the Boston Marathon record by 3 minutes, running 2:10:30, becoming the first Briton to win that race. Three months later he won the Commonwealth Games marathon in Edinburgh in another huge European, British, and Games record of 2:09:28.
4 Comments
I also remember when he came to give a talk at Birchwood the place was packed with runners eager to listen to his life story.
Everyone hung on his every word.
He was as Sir Brendan Foster said he was the runners runner and we all wanted to hear about a tip that would help us run faster or prepare for an event as he shared his experiences with us.
So down to earth with no airs and graces he just got on with the job and put the effort in learning and trying out new things to see what would work best.
Didn’t he used to run barefoot sometimes?
Yes I think so but no as much as Sam Carey Warrington ACs aka Andy Carey from near Red Lane. I got a phone call after one London Marathon to say we’ve got his running shoes. He got annoyed with them and thrown them into the crowd. He was brilliant and eccentric and hitch hike everywhere as a student.
I think Ron may have tried x-country bare foot 👣 certainly there are many photos of him.
Talking of cross-country I remember passing Ron In the Milton Keynes Muddy national. The next few steps I’d fallen face first in the deep mud and he was away. I never caught him I was weight down in mud and nothing would move easily
I have so many great memories of the club’s Clayton when I lived in Burnley, Warrington AC and the trophy years, Liverpool as a vet and running for my home town, I lived opposite the track and Settle Harriers to run with my name on my vest and go back to my heritage 😁 But most of all it was the friendships and competitors that I remember best