)
| Jim
and I met a few years ago at the Jacobite's hut near Achnasheen one wet
weekend (Nigel was also there). We returned from a day out to find the hut
on a little island a few inches above the rising river. One vivid image
I have is the sight of banknotes drying on the stove with everyone on maximum
concentration to ensure they didn't go up in smoke. Tell me about your early years and how you came to be where you are now. I was born in Belshill in Lanarkshire, the second of two children. My elder sister, Mum and the rest of the family still live in Lanarkshire. After being educated in Uddingston Grammar School, I went into an engineering apprenticeship. There were no early athletics to speak of - except football, if that counts as an athletic pursuit. I moved east in 1985 when I joined Hewlett Packard at South Queensferry and, although I missed the west a lot in the early years, I am very happy I made the move. After living in Edinburgh for about 9 years, I moved to Fife and I am now happily settled in Kinghorn with my bidie-in Janet (also a Carnethy member). No children, so far. I started running in the mid-1980's, caught up in the marathon boom. Over the next few years I did the Glasgow marathon twice and London once and numerous half-marathons. I got a bit bored by it all and luckily I found Carnethy. How did you discover the hills and mountains? I didn't get interested in the hills until my late 20s. It was really through the club that I discovered the hills. Munros ? I think I have done about a hundred. The problem is I have not been writing them down, so I've forgotten some of the early ones but it doesn't matter because I probably won't finish them. In any case some of the best hills I have done are sub-Munros. When was your first hill run? About 12 years ago. I got to know Nigel and this led to my first hill run from Flotterstone one Sunday. It may seem a pretty mundane first hill run but it was the most important of my life - I was hooked. Have you any heroes? I don't really know how I would define a hero. I don't think it's the greatest climber or adventurer because they do it largely for selfish reasons. I think the greatest heroes are people who do something unselfishly for the good of others. Do you have a training schedule or any special diet? The only time I ever really tried following a training schedule was in my marathon days. Whenever I attempted to go above a weekly mileage of 35-40 miles on road, I would suffer shin splints. I find now I get by with running about 20-25 miles a week but always try to get a long off-road run every weekend in three. The weekends in between that I try and fit in a heavy metal breakfast ! What about other sports? Cycling and tennis mainly. Cycling because it helps cut down on car use and we have lots of nice hilly back roads in Fife. Also it compliments the hill running. Tennis because I used to play a bit when I was young and I have a long standing Monday lunch time doubles game at HP which has been going about 10 years now. It almost makes Mondays at work bearable. Sailing and sea-kayaking are on the list of things I still want to master. What's your favourite type of run? I think it has to be a bivvy run in as remote country as possible. I bought a goretex bivvy bag a few years ago and it has served me well. Over the last few years I have had some truly memorable trips. It's nice to have company sometimes but I think I enjoy it even more when being self-reliant. It is very satisfying and confidence building to tackle a long route solo. Comment on the club and any changes you would like to see. When I joined Carnethy it had maybe 60-70 members and it was more of an extended family. Now the club has 160+ members it's more difficult to know all the names and faces. But that's not to be negative about the growth of the club. There's more going on now than ever and the recruiting of more women and juniors has been a great success. As for the club newsletter, it is worth the membership fee alone. Is there a perfect race you would like to add to the calendar of events? I don't care about races so much now. I think Durisdeer was the best medium race, but it's no longer in existence. So I would bring that back into the calendar. Fortunately I did run the last one in 1997. It's a superb route. Do you run outside Scotland a lot?. I haven't done a lot outside Scotland mainly because there's so much of Scotland I still want to see. My most memorable runs have been in Scotland . But as for running outside Scotland I would recommend Iceland as the most fascinating country I have ever run in. What about Norway? What is your most satisfying athletic achievement? I haven't got one ! Yet. Do you think access to the hills is satisfactory? I think access is about right. I think we should have freedom to roam but with that comes the responsibility to respect that the land has to be managed. I respect that and personally have not had any real problem with access. Do you agree with developing the Scottish natural environment for the economy of the country? There will always be pressure on the environment. Some of it is a healthy pressure like hydro schemes and windpower and I think we have to accept their impact. As for the unhealthy pressure of superquarries, until we see a shift of emphasis on policies like road building we are not going to see an end to superquarries. The shift I think will come as the environmental lobby gets some power in government. Scotland now has it's first green MSP, so at least that's a start. Have you had any life threatening experiences in the hills? Thankfully no. . I don't have very good head for heights so I tend to err on the side of caution. However a few years back I had a scary time in winter (my first time on crampons) which I wouldn't want to repeat. How do you view the risks of running in the hills? Well worth the risk! But I make sure I carry enough gear that, should something go wrong, I have enough food, shelter, first aid and clothing to last on the hill. I would also make sure that someone knows roughly where I am and when I plan to return. Do you think safety is an important part of race organisation? I think it is very important. In some respects we enter a hill-race as consenting adults and we should know how to look after ourselves. But as a race organiser you know there's going to be somebody who will try and take shortcuts - for example, with proper waterproofs - so you have to have a degree of enforcement to try and eliminate any risk. But overprotection can also ruin a race. Like having whole routes flagged. Have flagged sections to protect wildlife/erosion/landowners, but don't make a race an exercise in flag spotting. That way people really do get lost. What are you reading, now? I don't have an all-time top three books as such and most of my reading is done morning and evening on the train to and from work. But I have just finished The Van by Roddy Doyle and currently I am reading the Ikea catalogue! Last year I went through a phase of reading climbing books and would recommend Into Thin Air (John Krakauer) which is about the 1996 Everest disaster. I have always been interested in psychology and I would recommend Emotional Intelligence (Daniel Goleman) as the one popular psychology book to read. Have you any injury or health problems. Any advice to others on the subject? Nothing serious, touch wood. I wouldn't presume to offer advice because I'm no role model (see comment about training on heavy metal breakfast). But I guess everything in moderation is OK Where does your motivation and enthusiasm come from? The modern lifestyle is the only motivation required. A long hill run at the weekend is my way of countering the everyday hassles of life. It's funny how the benefits of a long weekend run seem to last all through next the working week. Tell me what you know about - SAAA, Hill Running Commission, SHRA, BAF, FRA. Do hill runners need big organisation? Oh yes, I see the role of the SAAA and BAF as absolutely fundamental to the ........ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Tell me about your dreams and ambitions. I would like to run across Scotland again, by a few different routes. The route we did several years ago from Lochinver to Berrridale was tremendous and you can have endless start and finish points and endless route variations. I haven't had the time to get this organised yet but I will. Oh, and I still haven't done anything in Knoydart yet. Other ambitions are to retire from work early and have more leisure time
to enjoy. Win the lottery and do something worthwhile with the money.
A hostel for clapped-out hill runners perhaps ? AM 19/9/99 |