Very impressed to see Gavin Bland winning Silent Valley British Champs race, particularly as I'd occassionaly found myself running near him in the odd race in recent years. (certainly won't be troubling him this year!) Talent will out I guess...
Are there any similar comebacks where previously top fell runners come back after a few years; once again at the top of their game?
Not quite as prolonged.. Alun Vaughan.. quality as a junior.. young senior.. dissapearred really.. put on weight, was well off the pace.. now back sub 70 half marathoning and in the right race will challenge the best in Britain like at Wyddfa.. thats the best I've seen up close.. when he said he'd get back to his levels to be honest I seriously doubted him.. but we'd train sporadically together during that time but it was enough to see the progress.. and also to appreciate that it was through hard work.. not natural talent.. he just ran harder than I did...Originally Posted by Oscar
Most impressive and 22 years after winning his first English Championship when only 19!
You need both.
I think thats just a cop out.. every person I've trained with who is better than me worked harder, lived better..
You get what you deserve out of running.. its a great sport like that..
Train as a plodder.. run as a plodder..
I don't think most have any more natural talent than me. Maybe the very very elite have that talent but just to be sub 70 half marathon or so.. Most will have that natural talent... but people love hiding behind a good excuse..
And I doubt there are many/any on here who have reached the limit of their talent..
You'll see good marathoners plateau at somewhere 2:15-2:25 or so.. maybe thats where that talent limit comes in.. not at our level..
Hopefully before the thread gets completely derailed, I was thinking the same thing. Really impressive. You wonder whether it's going to be an epilogue or the start of volume two! Either way, it can't happen often.
Great to see.
Gavin has class. And, as they say, class...
His win last weekend is one of the most delightful things I have seen in the last 25 years or so of fell running.
But, gifted or not, he didn't win by just rolling up and wandering towards the front of the pack. He has done the work.
If there was one common trait to the people I interviewed for my Fellrunner Profiles it was their work ethic. They won because they worked at winning. They may have been self-deprecatory and modest about their accomplishments; but their training regimes exposed the truth.
The other key factor is that winning is in the head, not the legs, not the lungs. Everyone can always run faster, harder,... and that has less to do with fitness than with mental determination.
Winners in sports win because they believe it is their destiny to win and since not winning cannot be countenanced they determine to win.
Not easy. But simple.
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 18-04-2013 at 05:58 PM.
THAT is just fantastic!
I remember actually beating him at Fairfield a few years back, and feeling pretty pleased with myself even though he was obviously just getting back into racing - his talent rather than fitness at the time was obvious. To then get back to that level, beating the likes of Jebby is just brilliant, especially as a V40!!
To get to that level must takes a shed load of hard work, but the top guys are where hard work meets talent. You can get so far on hard work alone, but genetics (eg balance of slow v fast twitch) and natural talent are needed on top of that (or vice versa!). With fell running, that's even more so than on the roads especially if you include bravery on descents as part of the talent!
fantastic win for Gavin ,well done
however ,what does his win say about the current state of fellrunning and its long term prospects?
It will take a while for them to mature
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote