The marathon.
26.2 miles.
It’s a journey of the heart conquering the mind and the mind conquering the body.
Anyone that’s ever run one knows how hard it can be. Having to push yourself further and faster than you’ve ever pushed yourself before. An experience that only 1% of the population will ever share, so the percentage of those who have run 150 must be so small its off the scale! 150 marathons. That’s nearly 4000 miles. That’s from London to New York (and you’d still have 500 more miles left to run)
Enter Mr. Stephen Hickman. A legend, a gentleman, a true inspiration. Ran his 150th right here on the Isle of Wight last Sunday accompanied by good friends Sally Trotman and Zoe Elliott. He’d run his 100th just 4 years before alongside Tarnia Eldridge who was running her 1st that year on the same very course.
So where did it all start?
1999 with a gym membership after deciding he was massively overweight he fell in love with it straight away. Within 2 years he ran his first one. In true Hickman style however he didn’t choose an easy one… oh no! He went straight in with the absolute beast that is Snowdonia!
Undeterred by the experience he was soon bashing out marathons like they were 10ks. Running them all over the world, from the US to Zurich where he got his tidy PB of 3.40, and from London (5 times) to Brighton (which he has run every year)
There are few corners of the globe that have been untouched by Mr. Hickman’s size 10s. Even Everest has had Hickmans toes trotting all over it as a part of his epic 100 mile Himalaya journey.
He’s done 3 in 3 days (Dymchurch) and 5 in 5 days (also ending in Dymchurch! He loves Dymchurch…. NOT!) That event, incidentally, nearly broke him.
His favourite he says, is the old course of the Needles marathon, which was briefly revived in the past couple of years. Here’s a little then and now, see if you can guess which ones which….
We are so lucky that he was recruited to join the IWRR by the late and great Roger Walker-Reed back in 2009 after running the Fell Series at Ventnor a few years in a row. In Steve’s own words
“It really was the start of something brilliant”
Originally from the Island, Steve also belongs to Ashford and District AC in the town that he now calls home…. well in between frequent visits here of course!
Congratulations from the bottom of our hearts Steve on this momentous achievement. Always full of useful advice, (such as “Steve, how do I train for a marathon?” Hickman – “it’s easy! run a marathon!”), loads of encouragement for others and great team spirit. He has become a legend in his own lifetime and a part of the furniture here at IWRR.
Number #151 is booked….. Beachy Head next weekend…. 200 here we come whoop whoop whoop!
