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Sky's the limit for world champion(Yorkshire Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Bill Bridge meets the Bingley athlete who has reached the summit in two of the most demanding sports imaginable. AS one who has always been a reluctant runner and for whom running up hills has been total anathema, the discovery that a Yorkshireman is about to start the defence of a world mountain-running title hitherto unheard of in non-athletic circles came as a pleasant surprise. The athlete is Robert Jebb, 31, who was brought up in Bingley but now lives at Staveley on the edge of the Lake District - the perfect training ground for a man who loves running up hills, the steeper the better. In May, he will again be competing in the Buff Skyrunner World Series - a programme of eight races over courses which can cover 55km, including 6,000m of climbing. The series is organised by the Federation for Sport at Altitude, a body set up largely by Italians and Spaniards towards the end of the last century to promote competition - running, cycling, skiing, duathlon and triathlon - at heights above 2,000m, hence "skyrunning". They stage eight races, beginning in Mexico and ending in Malaysia in October, and the athlete with the best four results takes the crown. Last year, Jebb won in the Spanish Pyrenees and the French Alps, was second in Switzerland and third in the Dolomites of Italy, winning the title by 17 points from Simon Booth, from Borrowdale Fell Runners. Yet running up and down mountains tells only half the story of Robert Jebb. The running is for summer; in winter he is probably the best amateur cyclo-cross rider in Britain. Last year, he became only the second man - after another Bingley Harrier, Andy Peace - to have won the annual Three Peaks race in both running and cyclo-cross disciplines, the run in April, the ride in September. He finished ninth in the British Cyclo-Cross Championship at Sutton Park in Birmingham in January - beaten by six full-time professionals and two fully-sponsored semi-professionals - and followed up by winning the Inter Area championship individual race at Peel Park in Bradford, leading his adopted North West to the team title. He moved to Cumbria when his partner Sharon Taylor - a good enough runner to have finished fifth in last year's women's category of the Skyrunner World Series - was offered jobs in three places after graduating. They could have gone to London or the Lakes - or stayed in Bradford, where Jebb was working as a field engineer for British Telecom. "We decided to live here," said Jebb, waving his arm towards the fells between Cartmel and Staveley. He is still with BT and relishes the physical challenges the Lakes offer. He pedals the 12-mile round trip to and from his work base and trains every day, doing anything from an hour to a 20-mile run over the hills, depending on his schedule. In winter, he runs the roads and works on his bike indoors using traction rollers. So how did a young man who took up running when he was nine or 10 and confesses to having made little progress in his teens become an outstanding competitor at two of the most demanding sports imaginable? "When I was about 15 I was still messing about with the running but later on I gradually started to improve and discovered that the more you put in, the more you get out of it," he said. "I am glad in a way I did not start to take it seriously too soon - I might have been burnt out now." His first win came in a "Turkey Trot" race in the hills above Keighley when he was 21; he had found his athletic niche. He added: "I was not quick enough to make any impact on the track or the road but enjoyed running with the fell-runners at Bingley - people like Ian Holmes, Ian Ferguson and Bob Whitfield. "There was camaraderie among them; it was a good social scene whether you were a winner or had just finished last. I found out I had a natural ability to climb as fast as anybody and, touch wood, I haven't suffered any serious injuries on the descents, only a twisted ankle or two." When fell-racing was cancelled during the summer of the foot-and-mouth disaster in 2001, Jebb decided to try his hand at road-racing - on a bike. Former British champion Keith Lambert was a supportive coach and Jebb proved good enough to win a divisional championship and earn and invitation to ride in the Tour of Ireland. Unfortunately, he lasted only three stages before crashing and dislocating his shoulder. "I enjoyed it and sometimes wish I'd carried on," he said. "I probably would not have been as good a fell runner had I stayed with road-racing but I learned a lot about cycling from Keith. He told me not to push for too high a gear and taught me how to look and work like a proper cyclist." All that encouraged him to make progress in cyclo-cross - he had only "dabbled" at the sport before - and now he competes against the best. And after another good winter he is ready to take on the Skyrunning challenge. "This year we start in Mexico and I am hoping to be able to get there," said Jebb, who enjoys modest sponsorship from the French ski company Salomon - many of the races he runs are over ground which becomes piste in winter - and has help with kit from former Olympic runner Ron Hill. Then come races in Spain, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, Andorra and Italy again before the series ends with the climb and descent of Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia. "Last year I arrived the day before the Kinabalu race and even though I was fifth to the summit, I felt like I was running at midnight," remembered Jebb. "I knew I had the title won so it did not really matter that I was overtaken by a few on the way down but this year I want to prepare properly and do better." Last year, 3,000 athletes from 22 nations ran up and down Kinabalu. This time they will see the best of Robert Jebb, whose motto, whether he is running in fell-races at Burnsall or Grasmere or taking on the best climbers in the world, is simple: "Always trying to go as fast as you can." [email protected] |