A tribute to Danny Hughes (14 June 1936 - 9 February 09) and a celebration of his life
Danny grew up surrounded by green fields, with the canal and River Mersey close by spending time playing football, cricket, and other sports. At the age of 13 he joined Warrington Athletic Club. While there he met Les Bristow, who was to become his greatest rival and best friend. Les introduced Danny to the wonders of the Lake District which included climbing the mountains in the Langdale Valley. At the age of 15 Danny moved to Wigan Technical and Mining College to do his O and A levels before going to Liverpool University in 1954 to study electrical engineering. Liverpool University opened up many more opportunities for athletic competition and Danny immediately joined the cross country team, which was very successful during those years, and took part in track athletics, holding the mile and half mile record for several years. He made many friends during this time and some of his cross country friends were members of the Christian Union. They invited Danny to some of their meetings and, during his final year there, he became a committed Christian.
On finishing university in July 1958 with a BA in Electrical Engineering, Danny applied for a job at Sellafield with UKAEA, as his one desire was to live in the Lake District which he had fallen in love with in his teens.
Danny continued to run cross country for Warrington Ac when he moved to Cumbria, but it was a long distance to travel and he finally joined the Barrow AC. There were few opportunities for track races in the summer so de decided to have a go at fell running, which mostly took place during the summer months.
In the 60s, Danny met Norma Wilson whilst Scottish Country Dancing at Greengarth and the next week invited her to go to Carlisle with him to a road race from Brampton to Carlisle which was on her eighteenth birthday. Danny and Norma were married at Muncaster Church in 1963 and started their married life at High Eskholme, Muncaster. Danny became a confirmed member of the Church of England and took an exam to become a Lay Reader in the church, a position he was to hold for the rest of his life.
Norma well remembers Danny's first fell race - the 1964 Vaux Mountain Trial in Wasdale. The runners set off in the direction of Great Gable, disappearing into the mist almost immediately. It was an orienteering type of race and runners chose their route between checkpoints. Danny got hopelessly lost finding the first checkpoint and retired! Joss Naylor, the already famous fell runner who lived and farmed in the Wasdale Valley, also got lost on Seatallen and retired. The experience didn't dampen Danny's enthusiasm for the sport and he was soon back taking fell running very seriously, and it became his favourite sport.
Danny also participated in orienteering, which had moved across the north sea from Scandinavia and was becoming popular in the UK. He became one of the ten founder members of the W. Cumberland Orienteering Club and also joined Frank Travis and Jo Long on the Cumberland Fell Running Association committee who organised the annual Ennerdale Horseshoe race. Having run for Barrow AC for a few years, he then moved to Kendal AC who had an active fell running team and started competing in other long distance races like the Ennerdale Horseshoe.
Danny always had a vision for the future in all the organisations he became a part of and soon the CFRA were organising not only the Ennerdale Horseshoe but six other races, namely - Wasdale Horseshoe, Muncaster Fell Race, Bake Fell Race, Copeland Chase, Northern Counties Fell Race (from Buttermere) and the Kinniside Fell Race. In 1986 a new fell running club was founded - Cumberland Fell Runners - with Joss Naylor as Chairman and Danny as Secretary. Danny also joined the Fell Runners Association and was Chairman from 1980 - 1984.
It was during this time that he met up with the Italian mountain runners and the International Committee for Mountain Running (ICMR) was formed with Angelo Biasi as President and Danny as Secretary, and the first Mountain Running World Trophy was organised in Italy in 1984. This organization later became the World Mountain Running Association and Danny became President in 1993. Danny hadn't competed in races himself since 1996, when he had a serious illness, but still jogged three or four times a week to keep himself fit.
As we celebrate 25 years of the WMRA this September, we also celebrate one of the projects Danny worked tirelessly toward - the Championships designation for the World Mountain Trophy.
Danny will be remembered not only by his family - to include sons David and John, daughter Rachel, and five grandchildren - but also his mountain running family throughout the world. As Norma relates, ",Danny's all-consuming interest was mountain running and he has travelled all over the world helping to organise mountain races.",
The WMRA Council looks forward to continuing on the path that Danny helped form - one that will surely include continued growth in our sport, further worldwide participation, and opportunities for athletes and administrators to share ideas and their love of mountain running.
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