Steve Viney laughs when asked what will be on his mind when he lines up with the large swell of people at the start of the Great Cumbrian Run on Sunday.
“The word ‘Help’,” he says. “With a big exclamation mark…”
Viney is being modest, since preparing for this particular race is more familiar to him than to any other person. This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of Cumbria’s original half-marathon and Viney, 74, has run in every one since it began in 1982.
Injury and illness have never broken the sequence. Only on one occasion was he forced to miss the race, because of a wedding in 2009 – but he was so determined to maintain his record that, after speaking to organisers, he ran the course on his own a few days after the event.
As such, Sunday will hold few surprises, only a certain perspective. “I’m not gonna be fast,” he says. “At my age, you slow down quite dramatically. The aim is just to get round, and not push too hard at the outset, because it’s a tricky start. Save some energy for the last bit.
"There have been times I’ve gone too fast: got to the last two or three miles, and people start to overtake you, and it’s soul-destroying. The secret is to run your first half slower, hold back, then you’ve got some spare. Like in any sport, I suppose.”
Viney, a retired teacher from Houghton, is believed to be the only person to have done the Great Cumbrian Run every time. It returns this year, after two Covid cancellations, in timely fashion, exactly 40 years since it began.
Viney recalls the first, in 1982, when he was 34. “I remember it being very crowded,” he says. “There was over 6,000 people. We ran from Brampton, and I think we went through Walby. That was the only year we did that – there was an emergency, and emergency services couldn’t get through very well because it was a narrow road.
“It changed route, through Houghton, and changed it two or three times since. The current route isn’t my favourite, because the first four miles has lots of nasty hills. But that’s the nature of it.”
Viney says his time in 1982, around one hour 25 minutes, was the best of his Cumbrian Runs. “Not elite class – but not bad,” he says of the inaugural race which was won by Dave Cannon in 1.05.06. Viney was a keen runner from his youth but the phenomenon of mass-participation running was relatively new to the county in the early eighties.
“It was at the start of the mixture of the fun and serious sides," he says. "I can remember a lad…he set off at the start and was carrying a six-pack of lager, which he drank on the way. That’s how serious it was to some people.
“But it was the start of the mass thing. It tailed off a bit, but then it’s picked up again. Very notably, there are a lot more females running now – at least half are women. It’s become more of a social thing as well.”
Viney’s passion for running, which he has sustained all his adult life, is traced to his school days. “I went to Carlisle Grammar School, and one of the teachers was very supportive and keen,” he says. “We had a cross country team, and it was a time when there were a lot of grammar schools around, and would compete against each other.
“This teacher would take us in his car to different schools, and we used to do a relay around Derwentwater as well. They always put me on the hills because I’ve got shorter legs and could get up the hills in those days, or go against the wind with less resistance.
“Then I carried on running when went to do my teacher training in Durham. I used to run against Charlie Spedding [the former Olympic medallist and English marathon record holder from Bishop Auckland]. But I only saw the back of him for about two minutes…”
It is remarkable to think that a person can go 40 years running the same event without a pulled muscle or life mishap ruling him out even the once. Viney believes running has kept him healthy, though he admits there is an element of fortune about keeping such a long record intact.
“There was a time I had flu, and walked a lot of it,” he says. “It was a time when the course went out towards Wreay, and we came back through Curthwaite, which brought you out down by the racecourse. It was a long straight from there. A friend of mine on his bike encouraged me and I got to the end, thank goodness.
“I’ve been quite lucky injury-wise. I did have a knee injury once. I got something delivered to the house on a pallet and was breaking it up with a hammer…and I hammered my leg by mistake. I had a sore knee for quite a while.
“But I’ve had no serious running injuries. The odd hamstring problem or calf injury, but not at Cumbrian Run time. I suppose one memorable one was the last one, two years ago. I was running through Brunton Park car park and stupidly hadn’t trained properly. I tripped over, gashed my knee and arm, and arrived at the finish line with blood running down my leg.”
That happening, for a keen Blues supporter, seems in keeping with the current injury curse at Carlisle United. Viney says he hopes to be in better condition this weekend.
“I’ve been a bit lazy, so I went out and did ten miles the other day,” he says. “I found it hard work, and my legs are a bit tired, but I know it’ll help me.”
Viney is a regular at Carlisle’s Parkrun and says he has done 350 of them. Running is clearly a fundamental part of his life. He says: “I know a lot of people are addicted to it. I’m not addicted, but I enjoy it. Sometimes during running I think, ‘Why am I doing this?’, but when you get to the end you feel nice, you cool down and your legs stop aching...and there are the general health benefits.
“I’m not overweight. I feel quite healthy even at my age. I’ve been volunteering at the vaccination centre in Carlisle for the last year, and one of the medical people there said a majority of people over 70 are on some kind of medication. I felt kind of proud that I’m not. But that’s lucky as well.”
Viney says he has inevitably had to adapt his preparation as the years have passed. “When you’re younger, if you’re running regularly six or seven miles, you can probably do a half marathon the next day," he says. "Now, at an older age, you do need to train a bit, just to put the miles in your legs.
“As well as the Parkrun every Saturday, I go out to Watchtree Nature Reserve most Sundays and run three miles, or two laps and six miles. I enter quite a lot of local races. Not as many as I used to, but I’ve done things like the Brampton to Carlisle regularly, the Derwentwater 10-mile around the lake…local races, ten and 5ks.”
Viney, who has also run London Marathons for charity, is happy to be an ambassador for both the physical and mental benefits of running, having felt them himself. “Things like the Cumbrian Run dipped in numbers but it’s gone up again now, because running has become more…normal, I think.
“You see so many more people running around the streets now. People don’t look at you and think, ‘He’s an odd fella’. It's more common. It’s also become a social thing as much as an athletic thing.
“What I like now is that you get all shapes and sizes, and that doesn’t matter. I always applaud the people who are finding it difficult and still do it. At Parkrun, we share the run directorship, and I always welcome people who’ve come back for a second one. If they’ve tried it, having never run before, and come back again, that’s encouraging.”
Helping others appreciate running was also at the core of Viney’s professional career. “I was a primary school teacher in Carlisle and, at the schools I worked at, we always had a running club," he says. "At my last one, Stanwix, every Friday I’d take children down to the park. Some of them loved it, some hated it, some developed and became really good runners.
“You can be proud you brought somebody into it. I see some parents of children I taught, and they say, ‘Thank you’. That’s nice.”
Viney says he finds running a “de-stresser” in the same way as music. “I run a choir, and people come to it after a hard day at work, and find it unwinds them. People get the same out of running.”
There will be many generations on the start line at Sunday’s race, which starts and finishes at the Sheepmount, with the course going through Carlisle city centre, out to Wetheral and back through Scotby and Rickerby Park.
Running can indeed be a family pursuit. “One of my grandchildren is seven and loves running,” says Viney. “He’s taking it up. My oldest son used to be county cross country champion at school level and my dad was a good sportsman as well – he did a mile in four-and-a-half minutes at his peak. I suppose it’s in the genes.”
Does he foresee the day when he’ll ever stop lacing up his trainers and putting in the miles? “I’ve jokingly said to some people, ‘If I ever come last in anything I’ll stop’. But really, that’s stupid, and a bit hurtful if you say that to anybody.
“If I thought it was damaging me, or I didn’t get any enjoyment, I’d probably stop. I can’t envisage it happening yet.”
Until that day, a 40-year tradition on the roads will be upheld this weekend. Is he proud of the rare achievement? “Well…I suppose there won’t be many who’ve done it as often,” he says. “I think there’s a difference between being proud of something and cocky. I don’t feel cocky. But I do feel proud.”
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