John Richard Wild (born 13 February 1953) is a male English former runner who competed in cross country,

fell running Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...

, and the

3000m steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field. It is an obstacle race over the distance of the 3000 metres, which derives its name from the ...

Athletics career

The early part of Wild’s running career was focused on cross country and track. He won the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships in 1974 and 1980. He represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the 3,000 metres steeplechase event at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Also in 1978, he won the

Cross de San Sebastián The Cross Internacional de San Sebastián, also known as the ''Cross Internacional de Donostia'', is an annual cross country running event which is staged in late January in San Sebastián, Spain. The competition was first held in 1956 as a men's ...

and in 1980, he was victorious at the Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza. Wild represented his country at the World Cross Country Championships, finishing in fifteenth place in the 1978 edition. In 1981, Wild won the

British Fell Running Championships The first British Fell Running Championships, then known as Fell Runner of the Year, were held in 1972 and the scoring was based on results in all fell running, fell races. In 1976 this was changed to the runner's best ten category A races and furt ...

at his first attempt. He won thirteen races in the Fell Runners Association calendar that year, setting new course records in seven of them. He repeated his championship success in 1982 and the following year finished second after close rivalry with Kenny Stuart. Wild won the Ben Nevis Race in 1983 in a then-record time of 1:25:35, only one second slower than the current record. Among his other victories were the

Snowdon Race The Snowdon Race () is a ten-mile endurance running competition in Gwynedd, from Llanberis to the peak of Snowdon. Contestants must make the five miles up the Llanberis Path to the summit ( above sea level) and return down. Currently entrants mus ...

in 1981 and 1982 and the Three Peaks Race in 1982 in a time of 2:37:30, which was a record for the route which was then in use. Wild still holds the course records for the English fell races at

the Wrekin The Wrekin ( ) is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire Council, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of ...

Rivington Pike Rivington Pike is a hill on Winter Hill, part of the West Pennine Moors at Rivington, Chorley in Lancashire, England. The nearest towns are Adlington and Horwich. The land and building are owned and managed by Chorley Council. The Pike Tower i ...

and

Burnsall Burnsall is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Wharfe in Wharfedale, and is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The village is approximately south-east from Grassington. It has ...

, and also for the

Ben Lomond Ben Lomond (, ), , is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros. Ben Lomond lies within the Ben Lomond National Memorial Park and the Loch Lomond and The Trossach ...

Hill Race in Scotland, all set in the early 1980s. In late 1983, Wild decided to turn his attention to the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

but his success was limited by injury and knee problems.Staffordshire Newsletter: Stafford Half Marathon: John Wild made History in 1984.
/ref> His life story is told in Steve Chilton'
'Running Hard: the story of a rivalry'
(Dingwall, 2017).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild, John 1953 births Living people English male long-distance runners British male long-distance runners English male steeplechase runners British fell runners Commonwealth Games athletes for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games