The Zinal underpant race or “Against the grain”

An interview with Salford Harrier

Billy Burns

I met Billy a couple of times training in Preston and at the Sierre Zinal Mountain Race in Switzerland – the finest mountain race in the World. Billy has won the Wesham 10k twice – in 1995 with 30:46 (Alex was our 1^st counter in 33:35) and 2007 in 32:33, (Steve was first WRR this year in 33:17). The Underpant Race took place in Zinal after a few shandies on the Sunday night………..I believe.

The following article is taken from the Spring Edition of ‘The Fellrunner’ magazine.

Billy Burns is Britain’s most successful mountain runner. In a career spanning twelve years he has won many of Europe’s most prestigious mountain races. He has finished 3^rd in the World Mountain Running Trophy (WMRT) and he has the best record in this event. Billy also has a great reputation in mountain marathons, having won the Zermatt Marathon and finished third in the Jungfrau Marathon four times.

I met Billy in Anzere, Switzerland, his spiritual home. Billy met his wife there, built his house here, and it was here that he refined the art of running up and down steep mountains. He lives in Anzere because the mountains are high and beautiful and the air is cold. From his balcony the view across the Rhone valley is mesmerising. Half a dozen 4000m peaks sit grandly at the end of Val d’Annivers, along which the 31km course of the Sierre-Zinal race may be traced. A little to the right is Val d’Herens, dominated by the dam of Grande Dixence, finish for the Thyon-Dixence race. It is no coincidence these are two races in which Billy has excelled.

Over numerous cups of tea we talked about mountains, methods, motives and life as a professional athlete in an alternative sport. Billy comes across as intelligent, without the weight of institutional education chaining him down. He spoke with a rare honesty and humility, but if prompted could talk in sound bites.

“In running I found something where I could test myself. It was always painful, always hard work, but was often meditative. The pain gave me perspective. Pain is an unavoidable reality. It is up to the runner whether or not he can take any more.”

Born in Preston, (hopefully not a PNE fan), with the West Pennine Moors looming on the horizon, Billy first ran at school at the age of ten over the middle distances. He combined running with football, BMX and break-dancing (well, it was the 1980s). This gave him the opportunity to progress slowly and accumulate an enormous amount of experience compared to the runner who starts later. In 1990, at 20, Billy began training and racing regularly with Red Rose Road Runners. Then, in 1992, he joined Preston Harriers. Alongside talented team-mates like John Nuttall and Steve Tunstall, he developed a dedication to training that would serve him well in the future. Road, cross-country and track running interested him the most. Rare outings into organised fell running saw wins at Knockdu and the Pendle Hill Race, and a fastest stage in the British Fell Relay Championship.

In 1996, having won the English trial, Billy finished 16^th in the European Mountain Running Trophy in Llanberis. However, he cites the 1996 WMRT in Telfes as the most important reference point in his career. Having finished over six minutes behind winner Antonio Molinari, Billy reasoned that to complete with the world’s best he must live and train as they do, in the mountains and at altitude. In Telfes, Billy and roommate Matt Moorhouse planned a ten-week trip to the Swiss Alps the following year. In the summer of 1997 Billy quit his job at the chocolate factory where he had worked for four years. With £500 in his pocket, bicycle loaded down with camping and running gear, he and Matt (budget £250), left for the Swiss Alps.

“You ask about security? What you need is uncertainty and confusion. What you need is failure. Failure forces you to think, to reinvent yourself. Failure is a whip to drive you harder. When I started, I had good days when I felt strong all the way, but they were rare. Instead, I remember failure and beatings stitched together by occasional successes and slowly emerging self-confidence.”

The first trip was an epiphany. Billy found that he had talent. He found he was not as good as he thought he was. He searched within himself for clues. There was no one to tell him what to do or how to do it. He realised that making himself suffer daily in training would prepare for the rigors of mountain racing. He lived an alternative lifestyle, sleeping on the ground, washing in streams, enduring long periods of bad weather, never missing an opportunity to train, the only imperative being to go to bed exhausted and aching. When camping he was always on the move, fetching water, shopping for provisions, brewing up. These actions sound tedious, but keep at them long enough and they become meditative acts.

It was his modest lifestyle and its rewards that motivated him to return to the Alps each year. The money he won was a means to an end, allowing him to live in the Alps in the summer and travel overseas in the winter. Racing the world’s best mountain runners each week, Billy improved immeasurably. At Thyon, Lenzerheide, and Bettmeralp he achieved good results. In the 1997 WMRT in the Czech Republic he finished ninth, two seconds behind Antonio Millinari. He realised that with more effort and planning he could win any race.

“There’s always something left to burn. Always energy if you learn how to use it. Even if it is muscle or brain matter.”

Billy decided to apply what he had learned in the Alps – about himself, about training, about altitude – to the marathon. In January 1998 he arrived in Nyahururu, (2300m), Kenya, rented an empty apartment, furnished it with a mattress and commenced training twice daily with the world’s finest distance runners. In April in the London marathon he ran a 2:16 debut and was selected for the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. Since the Billy has run five London Marathons. His best, 2:15. His worst, 2:18.

Kenya is not for everyone. Many athletes return home after a couple of weeks. The combination of a frugal lifestyle, heavy training load and basic, largely vegetarian, diet is too much for some. Others cannot live without a car, a TV, the internet, (sounds like me), a fridge, a supermarket or a gym. Yet Billy was able to do without the things other people took for granted and spent five English winters in Kenya. His fondest memories are of the marathon training camp in the village of Kapsait, (2900m). Here athletes trained, socialised and drank gallons of sweet black tea together. Everyone contributed to communal meals, eaten in a large, smoky kitchen. They were the friendliest people Billy had come across, uncommonly hospitable and generous. In 2000, 80% of the big city marathons were won by athletes who’d trained in Kapsait.

“The whole experience of mountain running is important, not one specific point. It is about mastery of your personal environment, whatever the conditions at the moment. It is about suffering and weakness, and maybe if you are lucky, fulfillment.”

Greater success in the mountains followed. His performance in the 1997 WMRT had gained Billy lottery funding. This was useful in that it allowed him to be selective in his racing and to focus on championships. However, funding for mountain running disappeared in 1998. Nevertheless, he came fourth in the WMRT in 1999, 6^th in 2000 and 3^rd in 2001. All this came after a summer in the Alps. 2002 was one of Billy’s great years. He won the grueling half-marathon at Bettmeralp and at Thyon-Dixence he ran under 70 minutes, becoming one of the few athletes to have ever done so. That summer Billy finished second in Sierre-Zinal, later in the year he won the famous Kitzbunel race in Austria and finished third in the Jungfrau Marathon.

It was the same story in 2003. Billy started his season in the UK with victory in the Salford 10km in 29’ 50”, beating Andi Jones and Andrew Pearson. He followed it up with a win at Rivington Pike the next day. Later, in Switzerland, he won the Zermatt Marathon and finished second in Sierre-Zinal to Jonathan Wyatt, who ran a course record that day. The day after Sierre-Zinal Billy was overlooked for the 2003 WMRT. He was in the shape of his life, a contender for the gold medal in Alaska. It is a decision that remains a mystery to him to this day.

Never one to be knocked down for long, Billy returned to international competition in 2004. He finished 3^rd in the inaugural WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships, held at Sierre-Zinal, and fifth in the WMRT in Saux D’Oulx. In 2005, Billy ran the Jungfrau Marathon two weeks before the WMRT to pay for the trip to New Zealand, where he finished first Briton, in 17^th place. This clearly illustrates Billy’s solution to a lack of funds – train harder, race regularly and win enough money to do what has to be done.

“Instead of measuring those calories, poring through how-to-magazines and shoe-buyers guides, worrying about the weather forecast; instead of downloading streams of heart-rate data; rather than logging-on to a website forum and talking about yourself for hours – YOU COULD HAVE BEEN TRAINING!”

In Kenya Billy learned the importance of recovery. For two months after the London Marathon he would relax and forget about running. He would switch off totally. Go out drinking. Spend time with his family. Eat. It required will power, yet this is certainly one reason why Billy never suffered a serious injury until the age of 37.

In the Alps Billy followed no formal training programme. He trained twice daily as he felt, though he always included a two to three hour run each week, a 30 minute uphill effort, and the inevitable speed work, (long workouts on the flat, 20 x 1 minute, 10 x 3 minutes). He saw no need for hill repetitions since he ran sufficient hills during steady runs. Long walks and biking served as endurance training or recovery from hard workouts.

With this approach, Billy’s fitness would improve steadily over the season. He always peaked for the race that mattered. He got it right in 2000 when he won Sierre-Zinal at his first attempt in 2:35:45. (Other notable runners that Day: Phil Leybourne2:57:27, Les Endean 3:26:29, Ali Weslsh 3:30:45, Russ Mabbett** 4:08:24, Martin Bates 4:09:55, Finlay McCalman 4:51:05)* Few have performed so well on their debut. Billy won other races in 2000, most notably Thyon-Dixence and the Matterhornlauf, but it was Sierre-Zinal that mattered. He peaked for Sierre-Zinal again in 2001, finishing second to Ricardo Mejia and running the fastest time by a Briton.

*the Sierre-Zinal is also called the Race of Five 4000m Peaks, is considered to be one of the finest mountain races in the world. It was once written that it is too mountain races what the New York Marathon is to Marathons. It is the oldest mountain race found in its category in Europe’s mountains.

** Russ has done Sierre-Zinal 9 times.

Sierre-Zinal, which takes place in the heart of the Valais’ Alps, offers its participants a significant challenge – 31km, 2200m ascent and 800m descent. Incredible scenery, a warm atmosphere and exceptional organisation explain the success and longevity of this challenge. http://www.sierre-zinal.com/?p=accueil&r=1

“All efforts undertaken in moderation count for nothing in Sierre-Zinal. The top ten British times: Burns 2hrs 34’47” (also 2 hrs 35’24” and 2hrs 38’04”), Phil Makepeace 2hrs35’04”, Jack Maitland 2hrs 36’11” (also 2hrs 26’30”), Colin Donnelly 2hrs36’41”, Nigel Gates 2hrs 37’10” (also 2hrs37’54”) and Jeff Norman 2hrs 37’56”.

Who is likely to take over the spirit Billy worked hard to develop? He regards Andi Jones and Joe Symonds as Britain’s most talented mountain runners and as potential world champions.

He feels that senior athletes from a traditional fell-running background, who have focused largely on fell racing from an early age, lack the pace required to compete at a high level internationally in the mountains.

With this in mind, Billy advises young athletes to focus on speed; to get on the track and forget about racing seriously on the fells; to visit Kenya or join a French athletic club where they will be rewarded for good performances. Hill running is an important part of training, but until 25, training for and racing over 1500m to 5000m will develop the speed needed to succeed in mountain running later on. To do this takes mental strength and a positive outlook, for it will necessarily mean taking a hammering in hill races!

“I couldn’t care less what anyone thinks. It takes effort to discover mountain running and perform well at it. I have always done things my way. There have been successes. There have been failures. But I maximised my ability to run up and down mountains. I always ran close to or at my full potential.”

Only marginal minds or true individuals have embraced mountain running with the integrity that Billy has. Lack of social and financial support forced him to be autonomous, to turn his sport into a way of life. He placed emphasis on his own strengths, instincts and self-discipline rather than using life’s necessary accessories, (and excuses), as a crutch. In a sense, it was an act of rebellion against those who waste their talent or are afraid of it and settle for second-best, against an epidemic of posturing weekend-warrior types looking to add to their CVs, and against the “superstar” athletes for whom ambition has become so precious that they cheat for it.

Mountain running is the means Billy has chosen to define and to understand himself. He has given mountain running everything and the reward has been freedom. He has deserved all of the success, given that it was a gamble to begin with – leaving his job, disregarding all commonly accepted limitations and relying solely on running for a wage. He has never questioned whether it was all worth it or not. It is simply a matter of weighing up the sacrifices against the total self-fulfillment offered in return. It would have been more of a gamble to have chosen the path of least resistance – to have reached 50 years of age a mere dilettante, regretting not testing himself to the full, not having bitten off more than he could chew.

“Everything in life is a challenge. You can accept the challenge to improve. Or you can bask and distract yourself with success. It’s up to you. After all, sport is about personal growth. In the mountains you have the opportunity to challenge yourself beyond any means available in daily life.”

To remain true to himself, Billy needs to find his own challenges and weave his life around them. Today Billy owns property and pays taxes. He has regular work and a permanent address. He has reached a point where his awareness of life and living is far beyond what most men could ever achieve. But this does not mean to say he is planning ahead for fishing holidays on a fat pension. Due to illness and injury, he raced sparsely in 2007 and 2008 and, by his own high standards, poorly. However, this provided a useful reality check. He realised that he could live without running. New doors have opened to other sports, most notably ski mountaineering.

Early this morning Billy banged out an eighty-minute interval session uphill on ski-rollers. Given that he has learnt to ski only recently, it will be a huge challenge to compete against athletes who could ski before they could talk. Yet crucially, Billy sees skiing as a privilege feels lucky to live in the mountains and relishes every second he spends on the slopes. For now, each day in the mountains is enough on its own, without the pressure to succeed.

Submitted by: Martin Bates, 20^th April 2009

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor