Elvet Striders

Striders Chat: Interview with Dave Shipman

I was delighted to talk to longstanding member and our former captain, chairman and president, Dave Shipman.

When did you start running and why?

I started running in the early 1970s, and that was really for fitness for rugby. At the young age of 15 I was a paperboy and my boss was a former professional soccer player and he used to advise me how to improve, primarily for rugby. He said I need to improve my stamina. So the reason I started running was for fitness to improve my rugby. I used to go out and run around the hills of Halifax. (Halifax is where I come from and grew up). I ran and played rugby all the way through until the late 1980s. I was very much into rugby, I was captain of the school team, then later on captain of the York University First team and then played in a lot of clubs around the country depending on where I was working. For example, I played in the Cotswolds, in Sussex and in Yorkshire and the Northeast.

I stopped playing rugby because I was sick of getting injured. I wasn’t heavy enough so I kept getting clattered. I was fed up of getting injured and not being able to play, so running became more of a thing. I could just do it anywhere and also as I could fit it around my work. I started to work shifts at children’s homes so it got harder to play rugby, as obviously you have to turn up to training and for matches on Saturdays. It was also the running boom in the late 1970s and early 80s. The London Marathon started, and all of a sudden running was something more people were doing. My brother and I did the London Marathon in 1982 and that inspired me to run more competitively. I moved to Durham in 1984 and I joined the Striders when it started in about 1985 or 1986 and that was it really. We all did the Great North Run and other races around the Northeast.

What are your best running achievements and memories?

The obvious one, which was the most structured and the most targeted, was breaking 2 minutes for the 800m. That was the first time I had a coach (Allan Seheult). It was a summer spent trying to run 800m faster. It started as a bet; somebody bet me I couldn’t break 2 minutes. Together with Allan Seheult at a party one night we worked out that if I trained hard and did nothing else, I probably could break 2 minutes. So I bet a man £50 that I could do it. And I did it, in 1.58 minutes, and we had a big party afterwards and got very drunk, and it was a fantastic feeling to actually do structured training with a series of track races where my time came down from 2.12 minutes right down to 1.58 minutes in one season. It was fantastic. (Ed; this time has stood as a club record since Dave achieved this in 1990).

In terms of running achievements, I did 57 minutes for 10 miles at the Brampton to Carlisle road race. That is probably my best long distance time. I struggled on anything more than 10 miles.

Running on the hills around Halifax when younger began my love of running on hills, which has perpetuated since I began running the Calderdale relays. When I discovered the Calderdale relays my brother and I got a team together from Striders, and we have done it every year until covid hit. We ran it for 25 years.

But I have lots of other fantastic running memories, particularly with Striders; too many memories to pick out individual things to say that was the best or the most successful. I remember charity relays, we did several over a number of years. They were fantastic experiences, getting everyone out running a leg and enjoying the countryside and raising money for charity. The other side of it would be the endless runs with Striders, you know every time you run round Houghall woods it’s just a fantastic feeling, so all the runs we did, all the club handicaps. Running the Christmas Handicap as the back end of a pantomime cow is probably a big achievement. It was very hot. Other running memories include helping other people. I remember helping Andy Scaife do the Bob Graham Round, you know, that was just fantastic, he was the first person in the club to try it. That was something that was totally different to cross country races or fell races. I always really enjoyed cross country. I did the Nationals for the first time, with a team, it was just great. So I have lots of really good memories, of lots of different events and disciplines.

We all run for different reasons. The reasons we run can change over time. I had several years working in Child Protection in Social Services where running was my sanity. It was an escape from the horrible scenarios I came across. I used to run every night just to switch off from work. I don’t know what I would have done without that. So, I think running brings so much to us all, not just for physical health but also mental health and well being. Then when you add the things you get through Striders like friendship, camaraderie, going to great places and doing great events, I just think it is amazing therapy and good for us all.

Tell me about getting your mile PB of 4.36 minutes, which has been the club record for 32 years since you achieved it in 1990.

I got my mile PB on the back of training for the 800m. I ran two or three mile distances as part of training for the 800m. When I broke 2 minutes for the 800, Seheultie said, “well you know you should have a go at a mile now and see what you can really do”. So that’s what we did. It was off the back of some very structured training, but it wasn’t a particular target. It was within a period of several months where everything felt so easy and I was just running like the wind. It was effortless. I don’t want to sound big headed, but I had done so much training, that if Allan had said go run 400m in 56 seconds, I could just go down to Maiden Castle and run 400m in 56 seconds. I was really fit, I wasn’t injured, I didn’t have any hassles. But I paid for it later. I spent months afterwards with calf and Achilles problems and ended up having cortisone injections in the Achilles, which I think was a result of lots of time training on the track. But at the time it was great. So I think the mile was a one off, off the back of the 800m. I never repeated anything like it, but I was never that fit or that focused again. One of the things it taught me was, I don’t want to be like that. I wanted to do lots of different things, I wanted to run on different terrains and do different distances. I got more and more into off-road running and social running. I lost interest in running fast, because I figured I would never run as fast again.

Allan’s Memorial Mile races are in a few weeks’ time, on 20th July. What tips would you give people?

The third lap is the hardest lap, and it is the crucial lap. Keep your form on the third lap!. Allan said, “keep your head up, keep your shoulders back and keep relaxed to keep good form”. The tendency when you are trying to run fast is to tense up and hunch forward.

Also, common sense, don’t set off too fast! If you do that in the mile, you are absolutely scuppered. Finish strong! That was Allan’s approach to all his racing, he said “finish strong!”.

Where is your favourite place to run?

I think if I am honest, the nicest run I have ever done is the Swaledale Marathon. For a long time I have said, “if I die, sprinkle my ashes in Gunnerside Gill”. Having stopped doing races and being competitive, then my local answer would be Waldridge Fell. I run on Waldridge Fell every Saturday, if I am around, and I have done that for 30 years. You can run for an hour and not bump into traffic, and we always see wildlife.

Describe your best race experience.

That was right back at the beginning, the first London Marathon that I did with my brother. I got drawn into it late as my brother was running with a team to raise money for his school and one of them broke their leg, so he asked if I would take their place. My brother worked in a special unit for kids with disabilities and was raising money for the unit. On the day it was just fantastic. It was probably the second year the London marathon had happened, so it was a relatively new event. If I am honest, we didn’t really know what we were doing. My legs ran out at 20 miles, we stopped for ice cream, jogged the rest of the way with some firemen who were very lively, we kept them going and they kept us going, and we just got round (4.15). So probably because I did it with my brother and probably because it was just a great day, that is my most vivid race memory I have.

In terms of running and time, then the Brampton to Carlisle when I did 57 minutes was my best race experience and achievement, as it all fell into place. I ran with my friend Andy and we stayed together until the last mile, when he ran off and left me, but we pushed each other, we were both running as fast as we could, you know, a really good pace. It felt hard all the way but we felt in control and we were both really pleased with the whole thing. We judged it well, we were fit, we had done the race before so we knew the course. Everything fell into place. It all went right. I have a lot of affection for this race because of that. It is one of the classic historical road races and long may it continue.

Describe a bad race experience?

I have had dozens and dozens of bad races. When I had the Achilles and calf problems I did what most runners do and tried to ignore it. So I had a whole series of races where I was injured, but at the same time I thought I was really fit, so I didn’t want to miss them. I can remember a Northeastern cross country race, I can remember several Harrier Leagues when I thought “I’m fit and I really want to do well”, and I didn’t finish any of them. I would get 3 miles in and then my leg would pack in. So, a lot of bad races in one go!

In terms of a spectacular blow up, I can remember doing the Phoenix, which is now called the Northumberland Coastal Run. I thought I was fitter than I was and I went off too fast. I can remember I got to Craster, which is about 5 or 6 miles in, and I just fell apart. I then jog-walked all the way from Craster to Alnmouth because I couldn’t keep running. My stomach was cramping and my legs were stiff and I just could not run. I had set off with three other Striders, who I thought in my head I should comfortably beat, but they beat me by about 35 minutes!

The other really spectacular one, was the last time I did the National cross country. I finished in the last group of runners. It was at Nottingham that year. Part of the course was really muddy, almost knee deep for a few hundred yards, and every lap I just found it harder and harder, and on the last lap I was walking through this mud thinking this is bloody horrible, and a guy was jogging behind me. I heard him coming and he went past me and then he fell over in the mud. I helped him up and then we just walked together to the end of the mud and we just looked at each other and said “why are we doing this?” And when I finished Geoff Davis was already taking the tent down. I was spectacularly slow that day, I mean it was a great day, a great day out, but in terms of my running, it was not. That was a few years ago, Geoff Davis will remember when exactly, if you ask him.

What food or fuel do you take when running?

If it’s a long run, Jaffa cakes. They are easily digested and give you plenty of sugar. I find some of the energy bars and gels clag your mouth up and make you thirsty. So things like Jaffa cakes and jelly babies.

What three pieces of advice would you have for runners?

Yes, I have thought about this quite a bit. The first, which really fits with my philosophy of running, is, yes, it’s good to run as fast as you can and take on challenges but I think there comes a time when you should throw away the watch and just run for enjoyment, and you know if you are out in the countryside, stop now and again and take in the view. So yes, racing around Houghall Woods is great, but so is running round looking at the Bluebells! I’ve done the Captain Cook’s Monument race from Great Ayton for years and it always used to amaze me how hardly anyone stopped at the top to look at the view before they hurtled down the other side. I’m as competitive as anybody, but sometimes we should throw away the watch and just run for running’s sake. Enjoy that feeling of being fit, being able to run and keep going, and think, wow, this is fantastic!

My second piece of advice would be listen to your body and stop when you are injured. We all tend to come back too quickly or think, oh if I run slowly it will be okay, or I will just have a jog and see how it feels, it never works.

The third piece of advice, which I used to be notoriously bad at, is stretching before and afterwards. I went into competitive sport before any type of warm ups or stretching were done, but now I am paying the price for it. My posture and flexibility are greatly reduced. This year I signed up for pilates classes led by a physio. I had to sign a sheet to say why I wanted to do pilates. I said “50 years of competitive sport and no stretching”. At the end of the first session the physio came up to me and said, “I see what you mean”. I think the more often that runners do stretching, or pilates or yoga or something like that, the better. I never did it, and I think if I had, I would have avoided a lot of the Achilles and calf injuries I had. I have learnt the hard way.