Black On Track

Olympian Roger Black never needs an excuse to escape to the Surrey Hills but this month he’s championing an epic adventure that’s particularly close to his heart. Here, he talks charity challenges, Guildford life and his new job as a theatre ‘runner’

- Matthew Williams

THE chances are that if you’ve ever witnessed an Olympian blur whizzing tea pots and donuts through the halls of Guildford’s riverside Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and thought ‘well doesn’t that charming fellow have a remarkable resemblance to former 400m champion Roger Black?!’ that you’ve seen the man himself helping to ensure their latest production runs smoothly.

“My wife, Julia, is a theatre director there and so I always find myself getting involved and helping out where I can,” says the 51-year-old from his home near Guildford.

“I just pop along to make the teas, coffees, do the donut run etc. That’s my job these days! How the mighty have fallen, hey?! I think in the programme notes they describe me as the ‘runner’, but most people don’t realise what that actually entails these days… “I’m on the board of the theatre and they’ve done an amazing job in making it an evening destination in its own right – I must get round to trying the new tapas bar there.”

Moving to Surrey

Probably best remembered for his part in the 4x400m relay triumph at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo (homemade t-shirts marking the occasion were spotted at this summer’s World Championships in London!), alongside fellow teammates Kriss Akabusi, Derek Redmond and John Regis, Roger moved to Surrey in 1995 to prepare for the Atlanta Olympics.

“My coach at the time was living in Farnham and the track at the Guildford Spectrum leisure complex persuaded me to move up here – without it, Guildford may never have become home but I’ve really never looked back since.”