...and so was YJ, in 1981 when John Wilde set his still extant Pike Race record of 15:53. I was in Cambridge Harriers colours and finished in 24:30. There were two J Swifts, one running for Northern Vets in a time of 23:36 and one unattached in 23:51; not sure which one was my bro.
This was all before the fence between the Pike and George's Lane was built, and it's now said that the small diversion that this introduced means that Wilde's record is now out of reach. It's also said that Wilde was the ultimate descender 'he'd just leap off and his feet rarely touched the ground'. However, reference to Ian Campbell's 'History of the Horwich RMI Harriers' tells me that Wilde went up in 9:48 and came down in 6:05. That is, his down is 62.1% of his up; good in absolute terms, but not indicative of an exceptional descender.
Additional information now to hand (courtesy of TYC) via http://www.hillyclothing.co.uk/news/march-2013-blog tells us that this year Ron Hill climbed in 22:27 and came down in 12:27 giving a percentage of 55.5; better descending, in relative terms than Wilde's. Interesting to find that he saw me worthy of a mention on his blog!
Just to clarify, the use we can all make of our personal ratio is to astablish our weakest aspect and to work on improving it; although most of us know already where the effort is needed.
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