Ron Hill. still running strong, 40 years on

WHEN HE broke the finishing tape 40 years ago to this very day at Meadowbank Stadium, two hours, nine minutes and 28 seconds after setting off in pursuit of Commonwealth Games marathon gold, Ron Hill raised his weary arms in triumph.

Despite numerous victories in the Boston Marathon, and a European title in Athens the year before, his 1970 triumph was the pinnacle of his career for the Lancashire-born legend. Victory, rather than the reading on the stopwatch, was what mattered most.

"In those days, people were only interested in times after the event," he recalls. "I won in Boston four months before and I hadn't even worn a watch. They were still metal. They were heavy. You didn't want to use energy carrying one for 26 miles. So I went to the Commonwealth Games to win. You had to do a good time to achieve that, but you only got the time afterwards."

Only much later did he learn that his accomplishment in Edinburgh might have been more significant than he first imagined. Months before, his great Cumbrian rival Derek Hawkins had run a new world-best of 2:08:34 in Antwerp. In the months that followed Hill's triumph in Edinburgh, it emerged that Hawkins' achievement was in dispute. Had he, in fact, run less than a full marathon? "There was a whole series of papers written by Americans and Europeans who tried to determine the length of the Antwerp course," Hill reflects. "But the Belgians would not respond, except to say that it had been measured by car. Car odometers were notorious in giving you a higher mileage than you'd actually done. So they concluded that the course where Derek ran could have been up to one kilometre short."

Now 71, Hill believes that the world record – still the fastest marathon in Scotland – was rightfully his. Today, he will return to the scene of his greatest triumph when he takes part in the Bupa Great Edinburgh Run. It will be, according to his personal records, the 16,559th consecutive day he has either trained or competed, racking up an estimated 47,000 kilometres en route. Endurance is in the blood. Now retired from the sportswear business that bore his name, Hill has refused to let the ageing process curtail his enjoyment of putting one foot in front of another. The event, now in its new home in Holyrood Park, will be the 2,302nd race of his career.

He hopes to do the Great Ethiopian Run in November and there are still personal marks to be surpassed.

"I ran a 10K in Manchester this year, flat course on a cold day, and was 53 minutes dead. I felt comfortable doing it. I'll want to beat that on Sunday," he says. Hill will join with the masses who will start off at 10.35am behind an elite men's field that will see Beijing Olympic 5,000 metres bronze medallist, Edwin Soi, provide a test for Ireland's much-improved Martin Fagan, victor in the Great Ireland Run three weeks ago.

Dan Robinson, who dropped out of last weekend's London marathon, leads the British challenge.

Elsewhere, Scotland's Freya Murray, who also won in Dublin, has a tougher challenge this time in a women's field that includes two-time Olympic 10,000 metres gold medallist Derartu Tulu and Kenya's reigning world cross-country champion Florence Kiplagat. "I'm hoping they bring out the best in me," said the local favourite, whose race starts at 10.15am, followed by two junior events in the afternoon.