Ron Hill represented Great Britain at two Olympic Games
Former Europe and Commonwealth marathon champion Ron Hill has died at the age of 82.
Hill represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 and in Munich in 1972.
In 1970 he became the first Briton to win the Boston Marathon, breaking the course record and winning Commonwealth Gold in two hours, nine minutes and 28 seconds that same year.
Hill ran at least a mile every day for 52 years and 39 days before ending his series at the age of 78.
The Accrington-born athlete ran every day from December 20, 1964 to January 31, 2017 – and thereafter snapped his sternum in a car accident in 1993.
His winning time at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh made him the second man to break 2:10 for the marathon, and he is still the 12th fastest Brit ever over the 42 km distance.
Hill also won marathon gold at the 1969 European Championships.
He later started a sportswear company that paid tribute to “our founder, our inspiration, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a runner” on Sunday.
Ron Hill
- Won the English Cross Country Championships in 1966
- Representing Great Britain in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 and in Munich in 1972 (picture), although he had missed medals
- Became the first Briton to win the 1970 Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours 10 minutes and 30 seconds
- Won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh that same year, recording a time of 2 hours 9 minutes 28 seconds
- Was the first to use synthetic fabrics in sportswear after his career as a textile chemist and led him to found Ron Hill Sports in September 1970
- Walked every day from December 20, 1964 to January 31, 2017 – even with a broken sternum from a car accident in 1993 and in a cast for six weeks following an operation on his foot
