Jon Wild, brand director at OSC running, explains the importance of the Ronhill brand, the legacy of Ron Hill MBE and the exciting future ahead.
Ronhill are know for their technically advanced and innovative running clothing. The brand is synonymous with running and has a long an illustrious history.
Ron Hill, who died in 2021, is a name that resonates strongly in the world of distance running. A legendary British athlete, Hill not only etched his name into the history books for his performances on the track and road but also for his commitment to the sport and the broader running community.
Jon said: “I started out as an area sales rep with the brand in 2005 and in that role you tell the Ron Hill story to lots of people.
“Also, when carrying out staff training I liked to see the reaction to the story of his career and how excited they’d be to pass that information on to customers. They’d know the name of the product but not Ron’s background.
“Ron was in a race and his shorts felt a bit restrictive, so he ripped them up the side. And that was the foundation what everyone known as the split racer short.
“He was the first in the sports trade to use Gore-Tex and Scotchlite reflective detailing on running product. And let’s not forget the iconic Trackster, a functional running pant with heel stirrups that grew in popularity throughout the 70s and 80s.”
Born on the 25th of February, 1938, in Accrington, Lancashire, Ron’s journey into athletics began in his youth.
Hill’s first significant international breakthrough came at the 1969 European Championships in Athens, where he won the gold medal in the marathon. During the 1968 Summer Olympics, in Mexico City, he finished in a commendable 7th place in the men’s marathon event.
Hill’s Olympic journey was particularly notable for his perseverance despite the challenging conditions. The high-altitude environment and extreme heat of Mexico City were harsh on many competitors, but Hill’s ability to adapt showcased his resilience and tactical intelligence as an athlete.
In 1970, Hill set a new British marathon record in winning the Boston Marathon. His time of 2:09:28 also cemented his status as one of the best marathoners in the world. It would stand as a British record for over two decades.
Ron Hill continued to achieve success in marathons throughout the 1970s, and his focus on consistent training, combined with his strategic racing tactics, allowed him to dominate many of the world’s major marathons, including the London Marathon, where he finished on the podium multiple times.
One of the most remarkable aspects was his incredible commitment to daily running. He set a personal record for consecutive days of running—a streak that lasted an astonishing 52 years. Hill ran every single day for over five decades. His streak ended in 2017 due to a health issue, but remains one of the most iconic feats in the history of distance running.
Ron Hill channelled his passion for the sport into innovation. He founded the Ronhill clothing brand, which became famous for its high-quality, functional running gear. The company played a pivotal role in the development of running clothing and equipment during the late 20th century.
Jon, however, points out that Ronhill’s early success was beginning to be detrimental: “When I started there were two things holding the brand back. One was this old-fashioned perception of the brand, it was a victim of its own success, ‘Oh, Tracksters that’s what my dad used to wear’. Also, a lot of the club vests for running clubs around the country were Ronhill. And it was, ‘Oh, that was that vest I had to wear for my running club’, and that was people’s perceptions of the brand.”
But things were about to change as the Ronhill moved forward.
Jon added: “A new team was brought on to start changing the nature of the brand, find the factories, get the margin, move where we needed to move as the world was changing. Also, bringing a female eye on the brand. Because of this e were in a great place when the women’s market boomed.
“We became the brand that many people would buy from stores like John Lewis and good running retailers. We no longer had that old stigma of fathers wearing Tracksters just to do the gardening in.”
But the legacy of Ron Hill was not brushed aside – it was something the brand built on.
Jon said: “We, as a team, worked really hard to push the brand into the modern market. Then we went to what is our greatest strength, Ron. All our export partners always saw him as our biggest strength. The man, the story.
“We have 54 years’ worth of heritage. Now we are even relaunching the Trackster for Winter ’25. In effect, any product that is looser fitting than a tight will now be called Trackster. We’ll have lots of different versions of Trackster, we own the name and we should own the category.”
Ronhill have launched their own footwear programme. They did have a brief flirtation with footwear in the late 1980s but dropped it to concentrate on clothing.
Jon said: “We’ve got two models, the Reverence and the Freedom.
“The Reverence is an off-road shoe with an aggressive outsole and uppers made of a matrix of fabrics with Kevlar woven into it. It’s robust, strong, but comfortable. We’ve partnered with Michelin for our outsoles. It’s a proprietary rubber compound and they’ve come up with a fantastic lug design that grips the ground, not only going up a slope, but down as well.
“The sales are solid, the greatest thing is the user feedback – when you use it in anger, it’s the business. And that’s up to the level of people doing serious extreme off-road events that are famous within that community.
“The Freedom is more a road-to-trail shoe. It has a softer outsole and is not as aggressive, so it appeals to a broader market. It also has a matrix upper, a Michelin outsole and includes all the same properties of the Reverence. It’s just made for slightly less aggressive terrain and therefore there’s a nice balance in the range.
“For Spring ‘25, we’re launching a new version of the Freedom called the Freedom Ultra. It gives the market a slightly lighter weight version. The midsole has a supercritical foam that will just be a bit softer and more compliant on off-road terrain.
“Then for ‘26 we’ve got a couple of new models that are going to extend that range.”
