You are right. I talked to him tonight and he just laughed and asked me "And is Ali the greatest boxer of all time?"
He said you just cannot compare different eras and commented in detail about the changes on the Ben terrain which have affected times. However he did say that he wished he could have raced against Kenny Stuart and added that Kenny did a sub 2.12 marathon and there is no fell runner today who can do that.
We also talked about the British and English Champs. Ian has won 8 English Champ Gold Medals and only one man has won more. Worthy subject for a Profile perhaps?