Abdifatah Dhuhulow wins the John Stonham trophy

Last Wednesday evening I had the honour of presenting the John
Stoneham Cup to Abdifatah Dhuhulow on behalf of the committee. Many of you may not be aware of this cup, so I will try and enlighten/clarify what it is about. The cup was presented by an anonymous donor in 1993 to say farewell to John Stoneham who was moving to New Zealand. John had inspired the donor to keep running, through the example of his own determination. Each year it is given to someone who has overcome difficulties, illness or injury.
How we
decided is best illustrated by the following written by a
journalist, who is also a runner.
“What a race the Watford half was. The route is along undulating Hertfordshire lanes; a real tester, which neverallowed you to relax for one minute. Towards the end of the race I had in my sights a fella from the London based Serpentine RC called Abdifatah Dhuhulow. He is an amputee and as you can see from the photograph his left leg was an artificial limb. Abdi was going pretty quick and as hard as I tried to catch him, he pulled away. The fella finished in a time of 1 hour 34mins 42 seconds-20 secs ahead of me. Its the first time I
have been beaten in a sprint finish by a amputee.”
A great winner, a man of dignity, modesty and an inspiration to us all. Many of you know I usually finish my e mails signing off Running is Magic. Well it truly is.
Sid Wills
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