Joss naylor biography definition
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He was a throwback to a bygone era and an emblem of simpler, more wholesome times. By the time we got to Gosforth, there’d be 14 of us in it. It reminded me of a less- than-successful run in the OS Mountain Trial (an orienteering-style event) when I got a dunking in the River Esk at the end of a very wet day, after 20 miles of thrashing around the sodden heather trying to find the control points.
So, on a whim I parked at the top of the pass and walked up to the Hardknott summit – surely one of the easiest of Wainwright tops to bag.
Back in the 1930s we didn’t have a tractor; we cut the hay with horses and an old McCormick cutter bar. I was in lead at Black Sail Hut, but I got cramp in me leg and sat down for five or 10 minutes. He and Boyd Millen, another Lakeland runner, were invited to take part in a similar race in October 1977.
Martin Stone, who was to carve out his own creditable running achievements in due course, was a young student in London at the time, but by a quirk of fate, got involved in the 24-hour event.
Jack Allison used to tek us in his big Chrysler car.
The sheep farmer from Wasdale broke the Lake District 24-hour record three times and ran the fastest known times for the Three Peaks challenge, the Welsh 3,000ers and the Pennine Way.
In a world where elite sport is now so scientific and data driven, Joss was adored even more for his old school approach. In fact, he was an accident-prone child – unlucky at best, calamitous at worst – and doctors even once advised him to refrain from strenuous exercise, and pronounced him unfit for national service.
First he suffered a wrestling accident, and then injured his spine while climbing a fence.
“Part of the fun,” says Ben, who lives in Ambleside, in the heart of the Lake District, “is going out to recce the route beforehand and finding some good lines.
In the following 20 years Naylor won so many events it is hard to recount them all. Joss chucked away his medical corset, lopped off the lower legs of his work trousers to create makeshift running shorts, and – because he didn’t own any trainers – was forced to don his heavy work boots.
Joss Naylor: A Tribute to the Fell Running Legend
In 1977, Joss tried another type of racing that was far out of his comfort zone.
Ron Bentley, from the famous Tipton Harriers Club, had set a new 24-hour world record in 1973 by running 259.603 kilometers (161.310 miles) in a Road Runners Club-organized track race in London.
It created a lot of interest in the endurance community and Joss, whose ability to stay on his feet on the fells for 24 hours was without question, was encouraged to see how he fared in a slightly different endurance challenge.
“It was Joss’s wish that his funeral should be a colourful celebration of his life,” the post said.
“The Naylor family invite all fell runners to join them at Wasdale Head on Friday 19 July and to form a colourful guard of honour as Joss takes the short journey to his final resting place.”
Arrangements have been made to relay the service outside to enable his many friends and admirers to hear the ceremony and celebration of a life well lived.
This short tribute can only offer a glimpse into Joss.
Or did he break into a run to keep up with me without me knowing? And as if all that was not enough, Naylor’s exploits in long distance solo fell challenges cemented his reputation as one of the greatest fell runners to lace up a pair of lugged running shoes. Naylor became synonymous with the Bob Graham Round, being the sixth person to complete the 66 mile circuit of 42 Lake District peaks in under 24 hours.
He recalls,
“I think Joss and Boyd were invited to take part in the 24-hour event to try to open up the sport to runners from other areas of long-distance running. Photo: Tommy Ore
Although many of his finest achievements are well documented, another story illustrates his innate sense of adventure.
Duncan Watson, a Scottish hill runner and one of the first two runners to complete Scotland’s famous 95-mile West Highland Way trail in one outing, recalls bumping into Joss and two other runners by Loch Lomond while out on a training run on the trail.