RIP Ron Nicholl, your smile will be missed!
We were informed that Ron Nicholl passed away a couple of weeks ago in Anchorage, Alaska, where he has made his home for the past couple of decades. Ron was 81 years of age when he left us on November 18.
Ron was a big part of the Knee Knacker family since he first ran our little race in 1991, only the second year it was open to the public. His final time completing the Race Across the North Shore was 20 years later in 2011. That would be the 18th time he would record a finish, at the age of 68. Ron continued coming back to Knee Knacker well into his 70s, in an attempt to reach the 20-year milestone mark. Alas, that proved elusive as time catches up to all of us and can make the 10 hour overall time limit, and associated earlier cutoff times, appear quite daunting.
The big heartwarming smile never left Ron’s face, whether it was during his many years of completing the 30 mile race, or in later years when his attempts fell short. In those latter years, Ron started the transition from competitor to volunteer photographer. In fact, in a couple of years he would do both in the same day – running the race until he missed one of the cutoff times, and then making his way to the Panorama Drive trailhead about 400 metres from the finish line in Deep Cove. He would then spend a few hours taking action shots as runners made their way to a successful Knee Knacker finish. Even after he “retired” from racing the Knee Knacker in 2017, Ron would continue to make the annual trip down from Anchorage as he fully embraced his new role as a volunteer photographer 🙂
I will also remember Ron for the many times we crossed paths in the 1990s at various ultra trail races in the Pacific Northwest. His smile, and positive energy, were infectious. Many of us who ran alongside of him benefitted from that. We also benefitted from the fact that he always carried a camera with him, and would then send us pictures days/weeks later when he would get the rolls of film developed. Recall this was before the use of digital cameras and then the phone cameras that are now ubiquitous.
Ron you will be sorely missed, not only at the Knee Knacker, but amongst the broader ultra running community of which you were a pioneer.
Enzo Federico
P.S. The 2 pics in the collage show a smiling Ron. First one is from his final KK finish in 2011 (PC: William Wong). The second one is from his final start in 2017 (PC: Hilary Matheson), where he would miss the cutoff at Cypress Bowl quarter-way, and then transition to his vollie photog role (https://kneeknacker.com/community/photos/400m-from-panorama-park-race-day-photos-from-ron-nicholl/)
P.P.S. I found this heartwarming writeup of Ron’s life up in Anchorage the past 2 decades – https://www.soldemedianochenews.org/ron-nicholl-english.html .
