According to our roving reporter Drew:
Friday (21st of March) saw the first (and most probably the last) winter talk of the 2013/2014 series. Two presenters were lined up: Steve Chilton, author of “IT’S A HILL, GET OVER IT” and our own super-endurance athlete, Matt Davis. Helen Wise started the evening off by introducing Steve Chilton:-
Steve talked about his new book and sold a number of signed copies to Carnethy members. The talk by Steve was excellent and I’ve since had chance to skim through the book. The book is a history of fell-running from the early guide’s races all the way through to modern day. Steve has interviewed lots of the hill-running stars and there’s lots of new material well beyond that provided in Askwith’s “Feet in the Clouds”. Steve is no slouch himself with a 2:34 marathon PB to his credit in 1985. Steve is a fully-qualified running coach and there were lots of excellent stories in his hour-long talk with a great question-and-answer session at the end. We could learn a lot from this man if we could be bothered.
After a short break Helen then invited Matt Davis to take the stand. Matt talked about the “Tor des Geants” and the “SPINE” race (running the 268 mile length of the Pennine Way). Understated as always, Matt recounted the highs and lows of both races, how route finding was for him still a mixture of map and GPS, not one or the other. He told the tragic story of the Japanese runner, Yuang Yang, who tripped and fell ultimately losing his life to a freak head injury. Some awesome running and true grit displayed by Matt – “we’re not worthy” – the overall feeling amongst the assembled “crowd”. Bob J presented Matt with the “RADICAL RUNNER” trophy – the most significant display of radical running displayed in 2013 – a most WORTHY winner.
The word “crowd” was stretching it to the absolute limit because approximately 30 Carnethies turned up. I make that less than 10% of the club! Where were you? This was live entertainment talking about the hills and hill-running on a truly GRAND scale – these are the sorts of evenings that can inspire you to change your life. Sorry that Sport Aid won on this occasion! (Remember to text “JO” to 70011 tho!).
Drew Soucha-Smallcrowd