Gill Harris and Paddy Buckley

I’m not sure when I first meet Gill, but one of my earliest memories was when she took part in our GL3Day event. I can clearly remember Gill being tailed by Terry Davies and Simon Madin who worked everso hard to hang onto to Gill’s strong and never faultering pace. Apparently, they nearly lost ‘El’Tel’ in a bog on Greenup Edge; Gill and Simon laughed but togther they with Simon’s extra tall height, they levered him out relatively unscathed. Simon and Terry were knackered at the end of three hard days and had that ‘never again’ look on their faces. Gill became a regular participant and then a crucial part of our organising team.

A few years later I was at the Woodgate Farm checkpoint on The longmynd Hike, after 33miles this is effectly the grouping point for the dark night section. Conditions had been wet and windy during the afternoon and we were all chilled. Whilst climbing into long leg wear, dry shirt, headtorch and grabbing a mug of tea in the melee, Gill appeared out of the gloom, along with Terry.

No time to waste. Gill told me I was with them as a group of three, and informed Owen the checkpoint officer we were off. I don’t think some people had known she had been and gone.
Conditions had been wet and cold and Terry was in a bad way. He was shivering badly, ‘but I’ll be OK in a minute’. We jogged off down the road, spilling tea from jogging and shivering. Terry was traveling light to say the least. He just wasn’t warming up and with no spare kit to put on I considered dressing him in my spare but it would come down to his knees and wouldn’t fit too well.

We nursed Terry through the next hours (at one point he ate a whole jelly baby!) and he felt a bit better when Aunty Gill Mac wrapped him up in her fleece at Stiper Carpark. Shuffling on, Terry ‘still didn’t feel right’, but Gill was on a mission and by careful group management and perfect route choice we didn’t loose much time and no other groups passed us in the dark.

Cresting the top of the ‘Mynd, Terry was feeling a lot better, probably because he could smell the beer of The Ragleth Inn below. Terry had been suffering with mild hypothermia for a few hours, but back on form the pace increased and we powered up Ragleth and down to Stretton, with good finishing times to be had. All the way across the playing fields Gill was pushing the pace...all the way to the school door. I hadn’t realised it but, a new Ladies record was waiting. In the dark and wet I hadn’t noticed Gill’s strength and focus, but it had been a tremendous perfermance and a good night out. Over the past decade or so Gill made Longmynd Hike victories, and the Ladies record her own on more than one occassion.

In August 2005 I had a go at The Paddy Buckley Round. Gill had completed a PBR in under 24hours in 2002, and I’d heard quite a bit about it. I’d also tried it many years ago but had blown out half way in poor weather. My 2005 attempt was a bit of a last minute decision but Gill, Phil, Keith and Pauline fronted up a formidable support team from Mercia Fell Runners and friends. Blessed by a bag of mixed weather, neccesitating a change of start time and venue, I ground to a halt on the last Leg before recording a memerable time of 26hrs10min. Not a defeat, but an amazing adventure in great company, and with tremendous contribution especially from Gill, Phil, Keith and Pauline.

A few days before the 2006 ‘Hike Gill was diagnosed with cancer. She didn’t take part and there was an emptiness without her. Her ladies record was broken by a minute or two by a newcomer to the event, in good conditions aided by a quality field of ‘Montrail Runners’.

In the Spring of 2007 when Gill was recovering from Chemo I stayed at Gill and Phil’s house on a Sunday night. It might have been after the Longmynd Vallies race, and the Monday morning gave us the chance to go for an ‘easy’ run before I was to drive home. We ran one of Gill’s favourite loops from Gaerstone Farm and I enjoyed traversing paths I hadn’t run for several years. My legs were tried and we ran steadily. Gill was weak but her determination deep within rose to the surface as we ran. Gill talked of running The Longmynd that October, and the more she talked, the more I realised she was talking of racing the Hike, not just aiming to take part.

Driving home I realised how important that event and the record meant to her.
2007 was the 40th anniversary of the Longmynd Hike. Terry Davies had persuaded me to do two laps as some sort of celebration. Terry has lots of good ideas and this was one I thought might not happen. Our first ‘unofficial’ lap started at 11pm Friday night. Twelve hours later, we were back at the start ready to go again with the proper start. Pauline came with us this time just to look after us, apparently, and tell us jokes. We had our own little adventures but were somewhat oblivious to the hard nosed racing taking part up front, in both mens and ladies race. (‘Ladies’ - so why not ‘Gentleman’s Race?)

Once again in a competitive ‘Montrail’ feild Gill was racing against some very talented athletes. I did get to hear the cut and thrust details later, but the gist of it was that Gill ran her own race against splits and times she knew so well and regained her record by lowering it significantly to 10hrs01min. The pace across those playing fields must have been hot! It was a tremendous performance and result.

My 2005 Paddy was no disappointment but in mid-summer this year I decided to try again for a sub-24hour round, if only to put into context the previous round; had I been fit enough, can I handle the much rougher ground, etc? Having had so much Mercia support in 2005 and with Gill very ill it was inappropriate to seek suport from Mercia, so this time I planned to go solo with Lindsey supporting me at road crossings. It the very least it would be a chance to contemplate and rationalise a plan, if any, for the future.

Gill died on Wednesday 6th August, whilst I was making plans for an attempt on 16/17th.
The weather dismissed that date as a non-starter with high winds and rain making the conditions unfavourable. A full moon gloated at me for the remainder of the week and so I decided to have a stab at some sort of round on Friday 22nd. Lindsey was unavailable and the weather window suggested a Friday evening start.

Starting at Llanberis, I climbed steadily through the quarries towards the Glyders enjoying a patchy half moon and a few wispers of thick dark cloud. The night was enjoyable and I was reliving many memories in a lot more favourable conditions than three years earlier. I made good progress across to Ogwen considering I was navigationg in the dark and carrying a lot of gear. Over the Carneddau to Capel Curig I wasn’t going as fast as I wished but still felt confident of giving the full route a go. Under the PYB footbridge I located my food stash only to find a hungry rodent had eaten my Tuna Mayo sandwich; not a good omen at the best of times. At this point it became apparent that I was definitely on a long reece rather than an attempt at The Round. I climbed Siabod steadily but the evening start was contributing to ‘sleepmonsters’ and the terrain along The Boundary Ridge exceedingly wet due to the recent monsoon rain. I realised it was ‘Game Over’ when went waist deep in a bog for the second time and I was recording splits far in excess of the schedule.

It was on this leg in 2005 that I had very fought hard for so long whilst following in the foot steps of Gill and Keith in a desparate attempt to make up lost time. Gill and Keith knew this leg so well and even in dry conditions there are several seriously boggy sections. I was now on a route to nowhere and after a few more summits my ‘bail-out’ options resulted in a decision to head direct for Cnicht, Nantmor and Abergaswyn Pass, if only because I had my second foodstash there. There ended by PB party for 2008.

I announced the secret outcome to ‘Wilko’ in an exchange of texts on the way home. ‘Have you got a date for your Paddy, then?’ She asked. ‘2009, after a very long dry spell, with a full moon, and perfect weather’ was my reply. There will need to be a bit of a re-think and a lot more recce-ing, too.

Gill’s dedication to The Longmynd Hike and Paddy Buckley Round and the effort she put into training and recce-ing the routes is admirable. I was not at all disappointed with my Paddy Run; it had been a great night out, and although running solo the spirit of many was ever present. I felt I had been granted an insight into what made Gill ‘tick’... but there is a long way to go before mastering The Paddy Buckley Round.

Joe