Stephen Holliday Oral History Recording

Stephen Holliday Oral History Recording

Stephen Holliday

An oral history interview with Stephen Holliday

Michael Romyn

Kent's Sporting Memories

Interview recorded on 13 June, 2019

Stephen Holliday; Michael Romyn

Kent's Sporting Memories

MP3; also available in WAV (34:54)

English

Sound Recording

Stephen Holliday

Kent’s Sporting Memories Oral History Summary
Interviewee: Stephen Holliday
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 13 June, 2019
Location: Stephen Holliday’s Home, Ashford, Kent


0:00 Name, place and date of birth (Folkestone, 8 January,1949); parents’ place of birth; Stephen went to school in Folkestone.
0:35 Doing cross country at school, and the route he used to run and how long it would take; why Stephen started running at school and, after realizing he would never compete at the highest level, his decision to take up race walking; his beginnings in race walking
2:10 Stephen’s memories of competing in running at school; Stephen’s poor background, going to work after leaving school at fifteen; joining the RAF in 1969, and competing for its race walking team; running and race walking between leaving school and joining the RAF, initially at Folkestone and then, after being approached by them, at Medway Athletics Club; eventually going on to compete for Ashford Athletics Club.
5:40 Taking up race walking in 1968 after being encouraged by Ian Robbins, his coach at Folkestone; competing at the junior championships in London and finishing second in the Southern Championships.
6:40 How race walking differs from running; the race walking technique and how the races are judged; how the disqualification procedure has changed over the years.
8:11 Stephen’s early success in the discipline and what to what he attributes that success; the necessity of planning and recovery to be a successful race walker.
10:00 What the race walking scene was like in Folkestone when Stephen started in 1968 – ‘It was very small, I was on my own…yeah, I was on my own’; joining Medway, where there were a team of four race walkers – ‘It was better than nothing’; the various events Stephen competed in, including the RAF championships.
12:00 Competing while in the RAF in race walking, cross country, and road running; why Stephen was attracted to race walking – ‘because I was winning everything’; the success of the RAF team.
13:30 Leaving the RAF after five years (Stephen was stationed in Wiltshire) after attending night school and training in engineering and welding, which he pursued as a career; moving back to Folkestone, and then to Ashford, where he found a job and got married in 1980
15:20 The splintering of Medway Athletics Club, and Stephen’s reasons for joining Ashford Athletics Club; the declining popularity of race walking at the club level; Kent’s strong tradition in the discipline.
16:55 Training around raising a family and work – ‘You used to go out after work, train for an hour, hour and a half, maybe two hours, depends, and at the weekend go out for three hours on the road’; winning the British Rail race walk three times; competing in the British Masters.
21:10 The social side of race walking – ‘my wife enjoyed it because she made friends’; Stephen explains that he was Kent champion 30 times, the last one when he was 60; the later stages of his career and why he decided to retire from the sport; how he has kept fit since retiring.
25:30 What heights Stephen’s career might have reached if not for an injury/operation in 1973; being disqualified only twice in his career – a remarkably low number; Stephen describes these disqualifications and the disqualification/judging process.
30:15 What Stephen think about when he’s race walking – ‘nothing really, other than everyday things. Actually it gets rid of a lot of stress’; how he never trained with music; the equipment used in race walking.
31:50 The highlight of Stephen’s race walking career, the RAF title – ‘it was such a surprise to win, especially with the competition I had’; the best race he’s ever run, the Southern AAA 10,000 meters in Brighton’s Withdean Stadium, where he finished third overall despite having his shoe clipped; his recollection of Folkestone Sports Centre.
34:20 What Stephen has taken from race walking, and the impact it had on his life.