Angus Tait Memorial Hexhamshire Hobble 2011

In memory of Angus Tait - by Stewart Beaty (co founder of the Hobble)
Its was a great privilege to be invited to the presentation for the inaugural Angus Tait Memorial Hexhamshire Hobble Fell Race and would like to thank the runners for turning out in such numbers and all the marshals and helpers on this cold January day.
Angus and I were really pleased that the Allen Valley Striders took over the race after we had ran it 15 times and were getting a bit long in the tooth.
Some of you will have known Angus and have your memories of him and many of you will have read John Humble's excellent obituary in the Fell Running Magazine.
I knew Angus from being a teenager and he was always a very friendly, outgoing character excelling in sports particularly fell running, football and badminton. At that time few people ran on the fells but Angus ran in fell races in the Lake District and Yorkshire and once appeared in Emmerdale Farm when a fell race was featured in one of the episodes. At that time he was not a member of a running club but in typical Angus sense of humour used to put his club down as Killhope Law Bog Trotters. At that time I used to play badminton with him but had no aspirations to be a runner.
Years later when Tynedale Harriers and the road running boom was in full swing Angus did some tremendous times in 10 mile road races and half marathons but his preference was still to run on the fells. He encouraged many road runners, myself included to get out onto the fells and living here, we used to frequently get out onto the fells or down the valley into the Allen Gorge with its maze of paths and steep rough hills. It was then back to his house for refreshment and a good chat. In 1991 I did my first Lake district race with him – the Fairfield Horseshoe on a beautiful day in May and was hooked.
In the early 90s there weren't many shorter fell races in this part of the country and we thought it would be a good idea to have a race in December over a marked course generally following footpaths so that newcomers to fell running would have the chance to participate in a proper fell race. It proved to be very popular it spawned many other races in Northumberland and Durham with the subsequent formations of dedicated fell running clubs in both counties.
Angus won the first Hobble after a battle with Neil Cassidy and subsequently went on to win the Allendale Challenge – Correct me if wrong but I believe he is the only one to have won both the Hobble and the Challenge. To be honest, I could go on all day about our adventures and how we miss him.