Remembering our friend Ian 'Go Run’ Gorin

For those who don’t know who I am, my name is Heather and I'm one of Ian's many close friends that he met through running and this is my eulogy to him which I read at his funeral.

Standing here in front of you all brings a range of mixed emotions.

I'm so honoured to have been asked by Ian's family to say a few words but it's without doubt the hardest and most surreal thing I have ever been asked to do.

How can I sum up what Ian meant to so many of us sat here today in such a short space of time? It almost seems impossible - a bit like how many of us wondered how on earth Ian could genuinely sleep in his van. Which became commonly known between us as 'the hobbit hole’.

On many occasions people were left scratching their heads as to how it was possible for anyone to sleep in that bed. But he did. He would often tell me and others that his van was where he got his best nights sleep. He loved his camper van and would often give tours of what changes and adaptations he'd made. He was super proud of it.

It was often the catalyst that sparked many hours of classic ‘mine is better than yours’ jokes between Ian, Adrian and sometimes Luke. These debates would often take place in the car park at the start of the Friday night Lets Run groups where Penny would be dragged in to referee. It would descend into utter chaos and would often escalate onto other matters. Was a 200 hoodie better than a 1000? Who had the best T-shirt? Who was in the better regiment in the army? Who paid for the last round of drinks? It was endless and no one ever grew tired of the crack, least of all Ian who would always push it to the next level.

I can only take comfort in that we all already know what an amazing, inspiring, funny, honest, caring, simply lovely man Ian was.

There will be so many words left unsaid, I just cannot cover it all - there were just too many great things about Ian that we will all deeply miss.

Ian 'Go Run’ Gorin, AKA 'the boy wonder' was the man who defied the myth that running was bad for the knees.

Ian started running after a visit to the doctors to discuss knee pain. The doctor gave Ian 2 options:

an operation to shave some of his cartilage, or
exercise to strengthen the knee.

Ian didn’t want an operation, so decided to take a crack at running and entered a 10k trail around Dalby Forest. From that point Ian was hooked and started to look for more events - it was at this point he entered his first Hardmoors event.

Ian went from strength to strength slowly creeping up the field as a mid pack runner to front. But not quite the front. As his close friends Craig & Sean would take great delight at his ‘joint' 2nd place male in the Hardmoors Grand Slam. That's something he could never quite accept. Those Alum works haunted him.

After tackling the half marathons Ian then took a leap up to full marathons and then ultras.

The more events Ian entered, the more ridiculous his pre race rituals became. The ‘go faster' hair cuts that he would showcase in the shop, the ‘only for elites’ Toby Carvery breakfast the day before, eating only a tin of rice pudding pre-race to the odd can of Guinness the night before.

It wasn’t long before Ian's personality became known amongst the Hardmoors family and his funny side started to show. He became known for his pranks, dry humour and general ability to make everyone smile and laugh. He did this in many ways - from always telling Craig's wife that Craig had DNFd at the previous checkpoint (when he hadn’t) to throwing dead adders at me, hiding in long grass and scaring the s*it* out of anyone he could, psyching people out, throwing me into rivers, winding Adrian up that he would DNF if he tried to keep up with his pace, telling people they had left their car doors open and to go back and shut them, to lastly leaving a dead sheep's head in my garden. True story!

Despite being an absolute joker Ian was also an extremely caring & considerate guy. Because of this Ian fitted perfectly with the Lets Run Tuesday/Friday night runs and he became a group leader of what he called his ‘elite’ gang. Everyone was Ian's friend and he had the ability to make everyone feel so included which is a hard skill to have but he pulled it off to a tee because of his true kind nature. The feedback from anyone who attended Ian's runs from beginner to established was always glowing. Everyone who met him felt instantly at ease in his presence and they became regular fixtures to his group runs. He inspired and encouraged so many.

Ian would often revel in the fact that his group runs were perfect. Where as Adrian and I seemed to go a bit more maverick and at the debriefs, he was like the teachers (AKA Shelli's pet). Where as Adrian and I would always be left with the foot note - must try harder. This would make Ian's day. Together we would joke that we made the most dysfunctional yet functional family unit going. We were the true dream team.

The table would however turn when Tony Carr and Ian showed zero respect and acted like 2 disobedient school boys whilst helping out on the pathfinder challenge. Telling the race director to go and ‘do one’ whilst being given their orders. Missing their checkpoint, getting lost and generally larking about. It’s a good job the race director happened to be Adrian. It wouldn't have happened on Steele's watch!

I could talk about Ian all day. Reciting stories from others or talking about my own personal memories of which I will deeply cherish for the rest of my life. I cannot put into words what Ian meant to me and the help, support, care and laughter we shared. This will be something I will never ever be able to replace or replicate because Ian was genuinely one of a kind. He just got me and I got him. It really was that simple. Like many of us do, I miss him every single day. I didn’t quite realise how much I rang him - until I stopped. It was borderline harassment.

We must hold onto these thoughts and remember Ian for the good times. It's safe to say that Ian has left his mark on all of us here today and I am sure that he will live on with us until we finally hang up our own running shoes. We will be reminded of Ian everywhere that we go - especially his favourite place Roseberry Topping.

On behalf of our running community, I would like to pass on all of our condolences to Ian's family and we would love to see you all at any local events, be it to spectate or maybe even try some?! The running family that we have built between us is one to be exceptionally proud of where no one is excluded but thoroughly embraced. We would love to see you there.

Ian. I hope you are happy and finally at peace, I know in my heart that you are and it's all you ever wanted, however, If you think I am doing 'the hill', or 'the 200' you can jog on!

We will all miss you so very very much.

Goodnight and God Bless you my dear dear friend Ian.

Ian and Heather