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A meeting with Willie is to see enthusiasm and ebullience in action. I would like to introduce you to him and try to spread his enthusiasm around. There may be some Club members who enjoy their running as much as he does, but there are none who enjoy it more. Not long ago he had the nick-name 'Mars Bars Willie' and even he admitted he had a weight problem. I remember him saying he had to keep running or he would be 14 stone. Recently a new, sylph-like WG has appeared and his fitness has taken a step change in the up direction. Reaching forty this year has clearly done him good. We had met at Carnethy events a few times - spending 10 days together last year on the Carnethy Norway trip and a week at Torridon this year - and I cornered him on Rum recently. He was sporting and resilient enough to do The Interview with an unruly and badly-behaved audience. I threatened them with all sorts of sanctions if they didn't stop commenting but it made no difference. They have all been marked down for retribution. Have you always stayed in Edinburgh? Yes, I was born in Edinburgh and have always lived here. As a boy I had a gentle family background in George Street. I had one older sister who delighted in getting me into trouble when I was very young. (He described an incident at the age of four, when his sister had said it was ok to pee on the stairs instead of going to the toilet. She then told on him). My father was a Shipping Manager for Glen Morangie for 48 years. This explained Willie's extra-ordinary knowledge of malt whisky. I had watched, fascinated, on several occasions as he and Dave Peck had whisky tasting contests. I am happily married to Cathi and we have one son, Fraser. Did you have an athletic background before hill-running? My first sport was serious competitive swimming, from the age of 6 to 18. The routine then was a training session between 6am and 8 am, then another session after school. 24 hours a week of very concentrated training. The competition was the East District Championships. I was asthmatic when young - it comes back now from time to time - and the swimming was very good for combating it. Swimming is also very good for the legs and cardio-vascular system. Swimming races are very lonely affairs. There is only you and the water; I was very rarely aware of other swimmers. Do you find hill racing lonely, too? Not to the same extent. There is always someone to see in a hill race, someone to chase. When I asked if he was a competitive runner, the smelly mob answered the question in typically noisy fashion. And you carried on your swimming at University? Yes, I won a half blue while reading Biological Sciences at Edinburgh, coming second in the Scottish Championships. But I also had a full social life and discovered girls, so I failed my first year exams and was thrown out. Your parents were upset? Very. I felt I had let them down, worked for a year, studying as well, and re-took the exams. I failed again. And then? I got a job as an analytical Chemist (soils, animal feeds) at Kings Buildings on Blackford Hill, where I have worked ever since. How did you come to take up hill running? My sister's boyfriend was Stuart Ruffel. He took me into the mountains. Up Breriach. We camped at the summit. I had found the mountains and hill running in a single event. So how did things develop? Well at first it was road running. Decided to do the 1982 Edinburgh Marathon in under four hours for charity. I suffered badly but did 4hrs 59 seconds. I then started training at 30 or 40 miles a week and ran a marathon a year. In 1985 I did 2hrs 58 mins 33 secs. But what about hill running? My first hill race was the 1985 Two Breweries Race - the name of the race appealed to me! - and did 3 hrs 40 mins. Then the Galloway Karrimor. What year was it, when the weather washed it out? My brother-in-law and I did it in walking boots, with huge sacks and heavy equipment. We arrived by mistake very early at the elite campsite. Everyone was amazed at our performance until we explained. I've been doing Karrimors ever since. What about your training and other sports nowadays? Do you have a special diet. Well, my regular training is 40 miles a week running. I play squash and organise the Extra Mural Squash Leagues. I play golf, do some orienteering, sail at Grantown, ski when possible. I have a real battle to keep my weight down and have only one meal a day, in the evening. I thought I was the only person in the world who adopted that regime to keep the flab at bay. So how did you come to join Carnethy? It was Jane Robertson who told me to join. But she is a member of Westerlands. How did you meet Jane? A Karrimor partner had dropped out and I was searching for another. Someone said she was looking for a partner too. I didn't know her then but I brazenly rang her up and she immediately agreed to join me on the Karrimor. She is a great girl. Very fit and competent in the mountains. I joined Carnethy and went on an Ossian trip in 1993. It was very enjoyable and everyone was so friendly, with a great attitude to running and enjoying the hills, rather than worrying about winning. What's good about the Club? Well, the things I've just said about attitude. The Club gives such good (unique?) opportunities to be with like-minded people, who accept you as you are. There is such a wide variety of backgrounds but we all do it together and enjoy it. Is there anything you don't like? No. How many members do you know? Not more than 50 or so. There's a thing - how to meet more members. Keep the weekends and events going at all costs. Try to persuade more people to come to the Annual Dinner and the Carnethy 5 Race and Ceilidh. Tell me about the training sessions you arrange for the youngsters. Well, Fraser expressed an interest in hill running, so I took him and a few mates to show them a hill run. We go on Blackford Hill, which has a mixture of territory, suitable for youngsters to make a start. Moira helps a lot. We try to make it fun and to keep the ratio of kids to adults down - preferably one-to-one. If anyone else would like to come along (adult or young person), please contact me. In a conversation in the Bothy the night before a group of us had been commenting on the fact that most people seem to come to hill running quite late in life. Not like most sports, where you often start straight out of the cradle. Is there some basic reason for this, we wondered? Do you know any mountain areas other than Scotland? Not really, apart from Norway, which is very like Scotland in many ways. Have you ever had any problems with access to the Scottish mountains? Once. I was camping with my lad, Fraser, near Ben Havear. Some snotty fishermen tried to tell me I had no right to be there, only they had. I think free access is very important. Is this where a big club and a national organisation with clout would help hill runners? Yes, it is. A good argument for Members in High Places, perhaps? Yes, that would help the situation and make sure access is preserved. Are you concerned about safety and hill running? Not on a personal level. I don't look on hill running as a dangerous occupation. Any close calls yourself? No, I never have. And what about Race Organisers, like the Islands Peaks Race, insisting on a minimum level of safety equipment and rigidly enforcing it? I accept that big organised events must do this. I don't question it at all when I compete. So long as everyone is treated the same and the rules are applied fairly. Are you interested in music and dancing? I love a good ceilidh. I used to do ballroom dancing when I was young but not now. I played the oboe as a child. Do you have any heroes? What do you mean, heroes? Did anyone inspire you to do things; whom do you admire? I suppose the oldies like Bill (Gauld) and you. Some of us younger ones look at you and hope we will still be as fit in 20 or 25 years time. Still have the enthusiasm to keep running. Do you ever have problems with motivation to keep running? No, its the nearest thing to sex. I offended my wife terribly when I came back from Norway and said it had been the most enjoyable period of my life. I'm not religious about my enjoyment of running in the mountains. It feels natural to accept and wonder at the beauty of nature. What will you be doing in 2010? Still running, still enjoying it. Keeping fit. I've only ever had one injury problem. It was a calf muscle which persistently hurt. I went to Fitness Assessment Centre and the massage treatment was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. But it worked. The pain went away and has never returned. (The next remarks were entirely spontaneous, without a prompting question). I hate seeing people who are badly out of condition and overweight. They are wasting their lives and their bodies. All the enjoyment we have is available to anyone who wants it and they throw it away. Why should a National Health Service treat people who mistreat themselves, who have self-inflicted illnesses through lack of exercise or smoking? Whom should I interview next? Jane Robertson.
AM 23/9/98 |