It's been over a week since Darren's death and I've thought about him a lot. I thought about him whilst at work, out cycling and running. Normally I'd think about him whilst riding my bike. I'd wonder whether he was out as well pushing himself on those gruelling rides he used to do. He was one of the few that I did think about whilst training and that was because of our battles on the fells.
I came across Darren on the forum about 4 years ago. He couldn't resist getting 'Lucy Lou' and 'One Hill' going with his playful antics. He'd teasingly start a thread then sit back and watch as the battle of wits began. Although he pretended not to take the forum too seriously he did at times get involved in serious debates. He cared about the direction this country was going in and he was prepared - like some others on here - to speak out against things he thought was wrong. That takes some guts doing when you know your views are open to public scrutiny and it is one of the reasons I liked him, even if we didn't always agree.
The first time I met him was at the 'Leg it around Lathgill' race in 2010. About 1/2 mile into the race I was at his side and I said "is your name Daz H." He said "Yeh" and so I introduced myself. He laughed then patted me on the back. We then spent the rest of the six miles or so trying to burn one another off! He got the better of me in that race by about seven seconds, but I got my revenge a month later in 'The Grouse' race. After that race he came over to me in the pub and said he was going home so I said "come on Daz H we've got to privatise education." That made him laugh because we'd been debating it on the forum.
The following years we did battle again over various races, the 'Kinder Downfall' being one of them. Daz never liked climbing in the heat and so when I overtook him near the top of Williams Clough he complained of being too hot. I thought right I'll take advantage of that and I really thought I wouldn't see him again. He hung on though-there was a great picture of us near the top of that climb on C.S man site but it is no longer there- and tracked me across the top before pulling out a small gap on the descent. He beat me again in the 'Wolfs Pit' race and told me after, that once I overtook him on the first climb he tried extra hard to hang on because it was me!
I saw Darren twice more. The time I remember most was the Coniston race. Again he got too hot on the climb but again hung on to whoop me on the descent. As I came in to finish he was sat on the grass and I noticed that he looked really happy. Normally he had a kind of frown - until he warmed to you -but that day the frown was missing. We chatted about the race and which line we'd taken amongst other things. After he sent me a PM saying I'd paced him up Wetherlam and that he was finding it hard but that it had given him inspiration to keep going. He also ended that PM by saying 'Hey and stop chucking water around'
Daz I will, just for you!
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Originally Posted by Stagger
