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Copeland Sporting Heros Honoured

31st October 2008

FELL RUNNING legend Joss Naylor has given some good advice to Copeland’s up and coming sports stars as well as an insight into his own unique sporting psyche which for generations has made him one of the country’s most phenomenal athletes.

“If you want to be at the top it’s got to be in your mind that you want to go there,” he told a gathering of the borough’s “sporting heroes” whose achievements were recognised individually and collectively at a Civic reception in The Beacon last Thursday evening.

Copeland’s Mayor Count Keith Hitchen hosted the first event of its kind in the area and presented certificates of achievements to outstanding sports performers and volunteers who have helped make success possible.

Invited by the Mayor to speak about his own prodigious success in endurance running, Joss Naylor who had travelled to Whitehaven from Wasdale on a stormy night, said: “About six years ago when I was doing some presentations this young lad said to me ‘you know I am not a fell runner, I am a cyclist’.

“I said ‘what’s your ambition if you are cyclist’, he said ‘well I am going to win the Tour de France in 12 years time’ and I thought good for him, if his cycling’s as good as his running he could easily be up amongst them but to win the Tour de France you have got to put something in your legs’.

“I am glad the lad had the ambition, it’s the same with all sports, you’ve got to weigh up what you are going to do, and you’ve got to discipline yourself to do it.

“If there was more young people like those we have here from rugby, cycling, running, swimming, it would be a better world because they have to discipline themselves to be there. Discipline for a young person is great because they appreciate what they do in life and they do the right things in sport.

“It’s a pity we couldn’t have better facilities but looking at what Alan Wills (Olympic archer) has achieved and the publicity he’s got, these things may happen but people like him and the others here tonight need support.

“A lot of things I’ve done have taken a lot of putting together, seven day runs and such like.

“In the last two days of a race when you are running on empty and can’t eat, that’s when reality sinks in, the miles have become twice as long.

“Looking ahead where you’re going you think ‘oh, hells fire’.......but you keep going, you can’t lie down, you just have to finish..

“Once I did the Lakes, meres and waters, 27 of them; well over a hundred miles, it was one of those days when the sun shone, there was a bit of mist here and there, nice running, one of those times when you just ran all day, those days you dream about but they don’t come very often.

“It was probably one of the most beautiful things I ever did. You go home at night, back to bed and think.... ‘Wow, that’s absolute magic’. These are goals to set but the support you get with your pacers, the people who feed and encourage you, that’s very important.

“When I’ve trained it’s never become a bore, I’ve always got up in the morning and said ‘Thank the Lord I’m here, what am I going to do today?’ If I’m going to run 30 miles I run 30 mile and just enjoy it. When I come back home I am thankful I have been able to do it.

“That’s the way to look at life, get up in the morning and work from there. Today there’s more sponsorship and things like that for athletes, and swimmers.

“I was 49 years old when I got a phone call offering me sponsorship to run a marathon, I politely said I couldn’t accept it but to give it to a younger person.

“I wish you all well, whatever your goals are, it’s up to you to achieve them. There are no short cuts in sport, if you want to be at the top you have to put that little bit extra in.”

Without any further ado, Joss was then invited by the Mayor to unveil an impressive work or art – the magnificent bust of himself created by the renowned sculptor Paul Bainbridge, from Egremont. “It sends rather a strange feeling through my veins,” Joss joked.

The Mayor said the idea of a local sports heroes nominations event all started with sculptor Paul Bainbridge.

He said: “Paul was told at a conference that if he contacted Copeland, the Mayor would probably buy a sculpture of Joss Naylor for the borough; contacts were made, photos were sent and it was unbelievable.

“I just thought ‘I can’t let this go anywhere else except Copeland, I’ll buy it and we’ll put in on display in the The Beacon, it’s a true likeness of a gentleman I had known about for 30-odd years, who had run up all the fells around Cumbria and other places.

“The man’s a living legend, I feel honoured to be here tonight with Joss Naylor, he’s done more running than I’ve had hot dinners.

“When you listen to the sort of distances he’s travell-ed it does make you realise just how lazy you are.”

Welcoming Alan Wills, both the Mayor and Joss congratulated him warmly on his selection and performance for Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics.

And then the Mayor revealed: “One of the ideas Alan has put forward is ‘why don’t we get an Olympic training ground in Copeland’ because when we looked where the possible grounds would be if they came to Cumbria they would be in places like Carlisle, Penrith, Kendal, maybe Barrow, but I am pretty sure they wouldn’t hit the west coast. So why don’t we get a small archery team, invite them to West Cumbria and let them train in one of the best areas of the UK?

“We are still going to move it forward and see whether we can make it happen and call on the sports organisations that are here tonight, it could be quite an achievement for West Cumbria and I’m sure we’d all benefit from it.”

Later on, in accepting a certificate on behalf of the Copeland Stadium Trust, Jackie Reid, the chairman, said the stadium was the finest of its kind in the county and would be an ideal for an Olympic training facility embracing different sports!

Alan Wills, from Arlecdon, said he wanted to bid for a place in at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Asked by the Mayor to say a few words. Alan said: “Over the last couple of years I have had a helluva lot of success, travelling all over the world; people say you have to sacrifice a lot to get where you are, but it’s not a sacrifice at all, it’s a choice. The choice I have made is to become one of the best in the world but it’s also down to all the help and support I’ve had.”

There was a presentation from Chris Davidson, of Copeland council cultural services. Chris spoke about a project called the Copeland Sports & Physical Activity Alliance aimed at bringing together sports organisations from across the borough “to give shared voice and increase Copeland’s profile”.

Kimberley Wilson, Copeland council’s sports development officer, was one of the organisers of the ceremony.

Copeland's sporting heroes honoured at the ceremony were: Joss Naylor (fell running) Alan Wills (archery) Greg McNally (rugby league) Laura Sharpe (football Frizington White Star) James Donaldson (rugby league) Amanda Donaldson (Copeland Wildcats rugby league) Richard Houghton (Velo Club cycling) Claire Hall (Copeland Wildcats) Laura Rowell (Wildcats) Neil Gregg (Wildcats) Copeland Stadium Trust (Jackie Reid, MBE) Gordon Grace (Whiehaven RLFC) Gerrard McCarten (Velo Club cycling) Ian Marr (Egremont RUFC) Bill Robson (Whitehaven AFC) Western Lakes Hockey Club (Matt Simmons) Russell Gainford (rugby union community coach) Colin Murdock (St Benedict’s rugby union) Martin McMullen (West Coast Community Fitness Centre, Mirehouse). Those nominated but who were unable to attend were:

Performers – David Seeds, Gary Hewer, Holly Freestone, Lee Mossop, Daniel Lee, Gary Broadbent, Jim Howsby Volunteers – Egremont Pool Trust, Millom Recreation Centre, Millom Pool Partnership, Ged Stokes, Mike Graham.