It is with immense sadness we mourn the passing of British running legend Dr. Ron Hill M.B.E.
Our founder, our inspiration, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a runner.
A few words from Graham Richards, Brand Director – Ronhill & Hilly:
The news of Ron’s passing is a sad day for the brand and although we have been aware of his deteriorating health, it is still a day of sorrow that is hard to believe.
As a young runner myself, I revered him as a competitor. He was one of the first to inspire a generation of kids who wished for improvement and he demonstrated this through defiance and sheer passion towards something he loved dearly – never holding up.
He was a local hero and supported the amateur in the sport, turning out regularly on the Manchester running scene to give his acolytes a close-up of what a true world class runner looked like and always sparing time to stop and talk running to anyone.
He possessed a human touch that has positively affected me and many others within the running community.
I remember turning up for a Northern Track league 5km race in Warrington and Ron was running. It was hard to believe that I was running against such a world class runner. I manged to win the race and break 15 mins for 5km, for the first time, which was a big step forward for me in my running career. Ron was first to congratulated me after the race and even though I was 21 and Ron a little past this best, it was still a major achievement for me and how proud I was to tell people that I had beaten the great Ron Hill.
I have been amazed at the amount of calls and emails I have received from all over the world and the tributes on social media have been amazing and prove how much Ron was respected both as a world class runner and also a pioneer in the development and innovation of running apparel.
Having worked with Ron for nearly 40 years it has been a pleasure to be have been part of both the development of Ronhill and Hilly and we look forward to further developing both brands going forward to further honour him.