“It’s always better to be over distance than under distance,” he said. 

Quoting Mike Wilkinson after I asked him why all road running courses which he measured were always over distance. 

However, he was indeed right as there can be nothing worse than running a PB only to then find out that the course was a few metres under distance. 

Very sadly I received a call on Monday morning from Mike’s cousin and well-known local runner Brian Bromley to say that Mike had passed away on Sunday evening. 

I had only been thinking about Mike when out doing a very easy run on Sunday morning. 

He was the first person I contacted after running my first ever marathon in 1982 as he was the man to go to when it came to road running in Norwich. I asked him about joining a club for which he invited me to join Norfolk Olympiads first claim and the Duke Street Running Club as a second claim member. 

I was so very nervous prior to that first run with the Olympiads but he made me feel so welcome whilst introducing me to all the other road runners. This was followed up with a 17-mile Sunday run from his house a few days later. 

Apart from being an excellent runner with a PB marathon of 2 hours 45 mins, Mike represented the Navy and Combined Services at cross country whilst also being a London Marathon ever present between 1981 and 2007 – 27 in total. I am pretty sure he ran in 2008 too but had to drop out through injury. However, and very possibly his most outstanding performance or certainly mention should be for the time when he represented England when running in a 24 hour ultra marathon and completing 116 miles. 

Away from his own personal running, he was a tireless worker when it came to race and club organisation. As well as being a founder member of the Duke Street Runners, he was also the first race director of the Norfolk Marathon in 1982 which was followed up with what was the one-off Eastern Evening News Centenary Marathon later that year and the very first City of Norwich Half Marathon in 1985. 

Whilst I ran several miles with Mike back in the day, be it training runs and races, I will never forget when competing in the Nottingham to Grantham 33.5-mile Canal Race with him and our good friend, the late Roger Gibbons. On the way up to Grantham where the cars were parked up before getting on race buses which transported us to the start at the Nottingham Forest football ground, whilst Roger lit up a cigarette, Mike started puffing away on his pipe. After winding my window down, I burst out laughing saying what are you both doing? “Having a smoke helps keep us awake during ultras,” Mike said. My reply was one of “yes but we aren’t running yet.” There was no reply other than just a smile on the faces of both of them. 

My most standout personal memory of Mike though has to be when standing on the start line of the Aberdeen International Marathon in 1986 when representing England for the first time on what was a very blustery and windy morning only to hear someone calling out my name. When I looked up there was Mike standing amongst the hundreds of spectators. That first England vest was and still is my proudest running memory. Knowing that Mike was there really did make it that bit more special.   

Whilst Mike’s competitive days may have ended several years ago, you could always be sure that he would be around when it came to an event. He even turned up at my crazy Boxing Day run a couple of years ago on what was a freezing cold morning. 

Mike – whilst you may no longer be here in body, your spirit will always be around when it comes to the local running community. 

RIP Mike ‘Wilko’ Wilkinson…