It is with great sadness we say ‘Goodbye’ to our 'inspirational' Legend ' Our Vice President, Ron Hill.
Ron was our 'runner's runner' who created not only the path for us running today but invented the clothes we run in and taught us all how to fuel to race successfully.
Ron for us at Stockport was our ‘Inspiration’, he created the changes to achieve and overcame all the obstacles put in his way at a time when running was tough, it wasn’t popular and definitely not supported either financially or in the community.
Ron was our ‘Legend’ who we would see regularly at our Track, Ron did not miss a day of running between 20 December 1964 and 30 January 2017 – a total of 52 years and 39 days. Ron defined a "run" as completing a distance of at least one mile at any pace. I would see Ron everyday bobbing up Apple Street with it’s brutal 1 mile chin to the floor incline, fresh as a daisy and then running back down Werneth Low.
Ron loved people and he loved their stories, especially running stories, he would listen to their reports of races, might have been’s and success’s, give advice and smile.
Ron read everything on running, he even read about women’s running and how it needed different coaching at a time everyone was coached together.
He’d always encourage with a gentle charm and you can see people leave his company with a warm glow from the youngest to the oldest.
Ron loved to race, he loved the gun, the community and he loved the running family. One of Ron’s happiest moments was when he ran with his family at Parkrun, with his Son, Daughter in law and Granddaughter, he loved it.
Ron’s family were his rock, they gave him the support to achieve everything he did in life, I know we say Ron the legend but without May, Steven and Graham he’s life would have been tougher. They too are inspirational, and we would like to say from us all at Stockport ‘Thank you’ for ‘Team Hill’.
So, before I end our ‘own’ tribute to ‘Ron and sign off with all his achievements I thought I’d share some of ‘Ron’s advice to us all every day. Ron would often tell me “to keep it simple”, “just train well,” ‘work your hardest’ and ‘give your best “ that’s all you can do “If you give your best that’s all it needs to be a success”.
Thank you so much Ron for sharing wonderful times with us at Stockport, your legacy will live on in our younger athletes and we promise to ‘be our ‘best’ .
You will always be running alongside side us, in our thoughts, R.I.P Ron, our running hero.