Carnethy Life Members
Life membership of Carnethy is the highest award given to any member of the club. The reasons for receiving life membership range from outstanding athletic achievement to extensive club contribution. This award signifies that the club has been greatly enriched by their membership, and that their continuing membership is valued by all.
If you feel a member deserves life membership of Carnethy then please contact the secretary. Life membership proposals are vetted by the committee, and if approved they are then presented at the AGM for a vote by the club members.
Gordon Cameron
Andy and Hilary Spenceley
Keith Burns
Keith joined Carnethy in 1985 inspired by some members at the time … including Dave Peck, Andy and Hilary Spenceley, Robin Morris and Jim Barton. He was attracted because they seemed be “mountaineers in a hurry rather than athletes”, with whom he was unable to identify.
Keith was our president from 1988 to 1992 and is a great organiser of things including many handicaps, the Traprain race, the alternative John Muir run, the duathlon in East Lothian and many more. At 79 he is still an active club member and organiser of great mountain biking days out.
When interviewed for the Carnethy journal in 1991, and asked if he had ever won anything? Keith said “Yes, a number of relatively minor prizes, by accident, but they are of no particular importance.”
Clearly for Keith it’s all about the running, the hills and the camaraderie of his Carnethy friends.
Bill Gauld
Bill Gauld is an institution and it is hard to imagine the club without him as he has been an active member of the club since, almost, its earliest days. Bill is also an athlete of the highest calibre and amongst his achievements are two World Championships – the Over 65s in 2001 and the Over 70s in 2003 (as well as World Over 65 silver medallist in 2002 at the age of 69 !). He is a 3 times British Over 50 Fell Running Champion and two times Scottish Over 50 Hill Running Champion. Other notable achievements include, at the age of 57, winning the Edinburgh Seven Hills Race outright and running a sub 4 hour Jura at age of 59 – 3 hrs 51 mins to be precise ! ). He served on the club committee for many years as Newsletter Editor and the quality and quantity of them was amazing – every year he produced 6 large, informative newsletters doing this for 10 years.
Willie Gibson
Willie joined Carnethy in 1993. His first hill race was the Two Breweries when he thought this “shorter, easier” race would be good training for a road marathon. His love of the hills never looked back. Running has always been about the journey and exploring wild places. Long expeditions took him running across Scotland from Montrose to Inverie and Glenfinnan to Ullapool. Many hut to hut running trips were had with Carnethy pals in Norway, the Pyrenees, Dolomites, central France and Slovenia. Perfect when the beer was cheaper than cups of tea! The race he loves most is the Three Islands Peaks Race which he has done in the teens of times. Combining the adventure of sailing and running is his idea of heaven. For his 50th birthday the only way to celebrate was to set another epic challenge so the Ramsay Round was completed with lots of time to spare.
Willie has always made important contributions to the club; initiating junior runs and relays, helping set up the website and managing its content, leading the Escapade Christmas runs and organising the Devils Beef Tub race. He welcomes and encourages new members with a smile, stories and a joke or two (usually rather risqué in nature) on the many Wednesday night training runs. He also served as President and looked particularly fetching in those presidential underpants!
Nick Macdonald
Nick is Carnethy’s longest serving president, a role he held from 1992 to 2001. As well as being a competitive road runner, and hill runner (a phenomenally fast descender), Nick was an organiser of many Carnethy events and races. He was race director for Glamaig Hill Race on Skye, organised the club’s annual Arthur’s Seat Handicap Race, and also the junior races at the Carnethy 5 and Tinto. He also led many journey runs, social runs, and was the organiser of the Carnethy Christmas social run for years. Outside of the club he’s been on the organising committee of the Scottish Islands Peaks Race for over 20 years, developing that race to the current format it retains today.
Nick has contributed tirelessly to the club for decades, and been a warm, welcoming face to any new member. Even now, he is still seen regularly seen at Carnethy races; either as a marshal or timekeeper at the finish.
Alex Menarry
Alex is an “Englandshire” member, born in December, 1932, now retired from running, who lives in Darlington. It’s unlikely that you have met him unless you are a (very) senior Carnethy. His most active racing and club journey runs period was from 1993 to 2016. In that period he won the over-75 World Masters Mountain Running Championship in the Czech Republic; was runner up in the over 70s WMMRA championships in Keswick; was twice over 70s FRA Champion in 2005 and 2006. His time for the Joss Naylor Oldies Challenge, in 2000, Pooley Bridge to Greendale Bridge, was 16.5 hours, ably supported by Keith Burns and Bill Gauld. His fell running career came to an end in 2013, when the WMMRA council decided that over 80s were persona non grata. He ran in the Open Race in Betwys y Coed in 2016, wearing a tee shirt with “Over 80, Rebel” on it.
In a fit of pique, he switched to serious cycling, joining the local Darlington Club. He now enjoys regular rides with the club as well as cycle touring in Mallorca, France and UK, including CTC’s LEJoG, Peak Tours’ France Caen to Nice (via Mont Ventoux), CTC’s Caen to Montpellier, Peak Tours’ Dover to Durness – so far. Watch this space.
Angela Mudge
Angela Mudge is one of the world’s best known fell/mountain runners and her exploits are the stuff of legend and even include winning the club handicap in 1994 ! Angela was World Champion in 2000, World Over 35 champion in 2005, World Champion silver medallist in 2001, World Sky-running champion in 2006 & 2007, European Grand Prix Mountain running Champion 1999 & 2000, 5 times British Fell Running Champion, not to mention being Everest Marathon record holder and British Cross-Country champion (1999), holder of race records all over the world – the list goes on and on. But Angela has her feet on the ground and has been an excellent club member turning up at club events, relays, week ends away etc.
Charlie Ramsay
Instigator and first completor of the Ramsay Round.
As the minutes ticked down to midday on 9 July, 1978, Charlie Ramsay tore down the lower slopes of Ben Nevis. He crossed a footbridge over the River Nevis and halted by the glen’s youth hostel. The clock stopped. In the previous 23 hours and 58 minutes, Charlie had passed over the summits of 23 Munros in an immense loop, starting where he had finished. No-one had climbed so many Munros in a day; nor would anyone do so again for nine years. Scotland’s classic 24-hour round – encompassing 60 miles of rough and wild mountain running, and an Everest-amount of ascending and descending – was born. Charlie unashamedly called it Ramsay’s Round.
Charlie not only gave Scotland its signature 24-hour round, he created a challenge that is emblematic of endurance, hardness and tenacity – the personification of hill running in Scotland. In 39 years, only 109 attempts have succeeded. The vagaries of the weather, the relentless terrain and the complexities of support make the Ramsay the hardest of the UK’s classic rounds. To call yourself a Ramsayist is to have answered the call of Scotland’s superlative mountains: the roughest, the toughest, the highest. After Helene Diamantides became the joint fastest with Mark Rigby to complete the round in 1989, she toasted Charlie Ramsay. The toast was symbolic: it was to the infinite power of imagination. As long as we are drawn to the mountains, Ramsay’s Round will be a benchmark of human endurance.
– Jonny Muir
Brian Robson
Contrary to popular belief within the Club, Brian is not Burns’ son in law. The misconception (recently cleared up by Burns) is likely due to the fact that he was vital for the smooth organisation of the Carnethy 5 Hill Race for many years including the period prior to it becoming a Carnethy organized race. He was in charge of the finish field and tea-tent for as long as anyone could remember (approx 35 years)! Brian’s dedication to the Carnethy 5 race was deemed worthy of life membership even though he was neither a runner nor a member of Carnethy. In the words of past race organisers:
Incidentally no relation to me. He was one of my helpers when I organised the Carnethy 5. And a great help he was. He continued after I retired. – Burns Scott
I remember Brian Robson. I organised the race for five years and he was great. Every year he would organise the tents for the first aid, teas etc and organise all the finish field setting up stuff, i.e. carrying water and everything else from the school, as well as running the tea-tent once the race started. Made my job so much easier as could leave everything to do with the finish field to him. He also did these jobs when Jamie Thin organised the race (and previously for Burns Scott, of course). – Andy Spenceley
Brian was a lovely and totally selfless guy – he helped with start-field setup for the first 2-3 years that I organised the C5 (2007-10, or thereabouts), but also did it for 2-3 decades prior to this (!). I was always amazed at how helpful he was despite not being a runner or a member of Carnethy. Like everyone else I also assumed he was Burn’s son-in-law! – Olly Stephenson
Burns Scott
Burns Scott founded Carnethy Hill Running Club in 1983. He is also the co-founder of the Carnethy 5 Hill Race, which was founded back in 1971. Burns organised the Carnethy 5 Race for its first 25 years. Burns founded the club as he thought there were too many unattached runners running the Carnethy 5 Hill Race. The club also has a club trophy called after him which is presented annually to a nominated member who makes the most noteworthy contribution to the club during the year.