European Athletics (EAA) – News – Britain’s Ron Hill reflects on his magnificent marathon career

Ron Hill is an icon of European distance running. He ran the marathon at four editions of the European Athletics Championships; winning in 1969 in Athens and then taking the bronze medal two years later in 1971, when this year's host Helsinki staged the Championships for the first time.

Hill, racing in Athens in his innovative string vest which he designed himself thanks to his background as a textile chemist, triumphed at the 1969 European Athletics Championships after famously overhauling the legendary Belgian runner Gaston Roelants in the final kilometre on a sweltering hot final day in the Greek capital.

"It was one of the biggest and happiest days of my life," he reflected recently.

Hill also went on to break the European marathon best on two occasions, firstly when he became the first British runner to win the Boston Marathon in 1979, shattering the course record with a time of 2:10:30.

Three months later, he was the first European to go under the 2:10 barrier when he won at the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, crossing the line in 2:09:28, a mark which stood as a European best for nearly four years until it was broken by his compatriot Ian Thompson.

Many road running aficionados, including Hill himself, consider that his Edinburgh performance was actually a world best at the time as there were question marks over whether the course of the Antwerp Marathon, where Australia's Derek Clayton had run 2:08.33.6 the year before, was the correct length.

Hill continued to run marathons for more than 20 years after his victories in Athens, Boston and Edinburgh.

His final marathon was the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996 and he can look back on having completed 115 races over the classic distance.

Now 73, Hill was recently at a road running seminar hosted by the 2012 Brighton Marathon and he talked at length about his career.

A video of his reflections at the seminar can be seen here.

European Athletics (EAA) – News