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Marathons no hassles for Cassells


By Jean Gunn

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Stephen Cassells celebrates his completion of 100,000 miles running.
Stephen Cassells celebrates his completion of 100,000 miles running.

Caithness exile Stephen Cassells has clocked up an amazing 100,000 miles running – the equivalent to four times round the world.

Taking him just over 50 years to complete, Stephen (65), reached the incredible milestone on March 10. He started running when he was 15 while living in Thurso and has kept it up ever since.

Fortunately he tends to log his runs and noticed during lockdown, a time when he was still able to get out and enjoy his chosen form of exericse, that he was getting close to 100,000 miles.

"The closer I got to the figure the more excited I got," he said. "It is a lot of miles to do and I have been lucky to be able to do it."

Along the way, Stephen, who now lives in Aberdeen, has taken part in a staggering 49 marathons, over 100 half marathons and many shorter races. He has completed marathons all over the world, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Athens, Munich, Rotterdam, Oslo, Vienna, Frankfurt, Geneva, Berlin, Zurich, Cologne and Hanover, as well as many in the UK.

"Fittingly enough, I ran the last three miles with my wife Alison who over the years has spent a fortune on washing powder to make sure my running kit is ready for the next run," he remarked.

"I have been lucky that over 50 years of running that I have not had any serious injuries. When I completed my 100,000 miles I did think back to the day I completed my first mile in Thurso in late 1970 – I still remember it.

"My pal, Richard Nicholson, measured out the distance on his bike and I ran it. I started in Lythmore Road, up Forss Road along Pennyland Drive, down Castlegreen Road, along Smith Terrace and finally finishing in Duncan Street."

Hooked on running Stephen joined the Caithness Amateur Athletics Club (CAAC) where Sandy Gunn became his trainer.

"In those days there were probably less than 10 senior members of the club, he explained. "I remember every Saturday morning meeting up at the tech college and we would race either down by the river or up past Dunbar Hospital on the moors.

"Under Sandy’s coaching I progressed well and in 1971 at the Thurso Naver Sports I won the overall championship and was awarded the Provost Pollock rose bowl."

In 1972, representing Thurso High School, he won the North of Scotland Schools 1500m track event in a new record of four minutes 25 seconds at Bught Park, Inverness. The following year, as a youth, he won the North of Scotland cross country championship in Inverness, possibly the first CAAC member to achieve this. In the same year he also won the North of Scotland Schools 5000m at Invergordon.

"I continued to train hard in all weathers with favourite routes out to Scrabster and along Holborn Head and back via Janetstown and Thurso river," he said. "I also had a circular route round Thurso covering the ‘Atomic’ estate, Springpark and Mount Vernon.

"Living in Thurso meant that I had to travel many miles to races down south. My dad, Jim Cassells, spent many hours and pounds driving me to these races. I will always be grateful to him for being my taxi driver.

"Dad got involved with CAAC and wrote many articles for the Caithness Courier covering races run by club members. In his later years he became a life member of the club, something he was very proud of."

Stephen moved down to Aberdeen in 1975 to study for a degree in business studies, but continued to run for CAAC and won the North of Scotland Cross Country Championship at Lossiemouth as a junior – in 1976 he retained his title at Gordonstoun School.

After qualifying as a teacher in business studies in 1980 he decided to up his training and start competing again. In 1981 he ran in the first ever London Marathon, then in July the same year he ran in the inaugural Caithness Marathon finishing fourth.

He recalled: "I regularly came home to Thurso to take part in the marathon, unfortunately I never won but I was second in 1985. In 1986 the marathon was reduced to a half marathon and I raced in five of these.

"Once again, I never managed to win the race but I was second twice, third twice and fourth once running for Aberdeen AAC. I was more successful in the Beinn Ratha Hill race where I managed to come first in 1990, 1992 and 1993. I also managed to win the Thurso 10km road race in 2001."

His best marathon time is two hours 34 minutes and that was at Dundee in 1985, while his best half marathon was one hour 11 minute at Inverness in 1992.

Stephen was a keen footballer as a teenager playing with Thurso Acks and Bunillidh Thistle, however it was a football injury that led to his love of running. He suffered a knee injury when only about 15-years-old and the surgeon felt he should try and build up his muscles.

The athlete recalled: "He said try running and that is what I did. The amount of miles I have done, it has certainly built up my muscles."

He and his wife, also a keen runner, were among the competitors caught up in the bombing at the Boston Marathon in 2013. "It was quite scary – the bomb went off just before I got to the finish line. I went back the year afterwards and ran it again which was fantastic, the folk were so chuffed to see so many come back."

Stephen may have retired from teaching a couple of years back but he has no intention of hanging up his running shoes any time soon.


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