By Kelly Joy — November 2023

Photos provided by Roy Hobson

*Roy runs The Blazing 5k on October 9th.*

I call Roy at our designated time and the phone rings, I wait a second and it is promptly picked up and Roy’s warm, South African lilt floats down the line, and I relax. As a Brit abroad, to hear another non-American accent is always comforting. We broke the ice chatting rugby, side note, for all you non rugby fans, South Africa beat England in the semifinals and went on to win the rugby world cup. Side note number 2 (American) football was created from an amalgamation of rugby and soccer (Football to the rest of the world).

Let us begin…. At the beginning.

Roy was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and at age 13. Roy’s parents moved their family (for various reasons) to South Carolina, and eventually Sarasota, Florida to set up their family business specializing in furniture, wood upholstery amongst over things. At age 27 Roy now helps run the business, alongside his father. Roy is extremely dedicated to his family, the business, which can command long hours, therefore in his spare time, he runs. Let us commence our deep dive into Roy and his running, why he runs and where he wants it to take him.

Roy and running.

Pre running, Roy was a talented tennis player. After competing in college at, The Citadel, Charleston, SC where he studied Mechanical Engineering, it was in 2019 that Roy made the move to Asia to pursue his tennis professionally. Then the world shut down, as covid rampaged throughout. Whether you believe this or not, one thing we can all agree on is that the world “stopped,” and because of this, Roy had to come home, he had at this point spent all his money getting himself to Asia to play tennis, and now there was no tennis and no money. Roy started work at his family business, not wanting to use his Mechanical Engineering degree as he does not enjoy sitting behind a desk. Influenced by his fathers passion for running, his own ability, and the need to be active, Roy laced up and ran.

Roy clearly has a lot of natural ability in sports, which is something his father has as well. Roy grew up watching his own father excel in sports. He too was a high level tennis player; seeded 197 in the world and was an exceptional runner with 4:05 minute mile / 66 minute half marathon / 2 hour 20 minute marathon and a 14:05 minute 5 K (WOW, WOW, WOW). Roy was always very athletic, the transition to a new sport was not hard for him. As a kid at school, he played cricket, rugby, field hockey, tennis, ran cross country and participated in athletics. Cricket, rugby, and field hockey, all being sports he played in South Africa. He however due to his size (In his own words, “I was skinny and small.”) played mostly field hockey. He apparently hated cross country as living in Johannesburg , he did not do much training, running at high altitude and not checking his speed meant most of the time his lungs were burning, not fun by anyone’s standards. Although he was good, finishing in the top 10-20 kids out of 100, he always felt so terrible, running 101, never going out too fast. Roy is also very passionate about cars, and in high school he raced go karts, which is something he still gravitates towards today, but more on that later.

Roy started to run, initially it (as like most of us) was a way for him to stay fit now his tennis had stopped. He ran with his dad, and he ran on his own, he started to get competitive with himself and decided to compete on the college track season, mostly concentrating on 800 meters up to 5 Kilometer distances. Where his times were about 1 minute 59 sec for the 800m, 3 minute 55 sec for the 1500m and 14 minute 54 secs for a road 5K, for a beginner these are fast, and shows that Roy definitely has the talent.

Coaching

Roy decides he needs a coach to start adding some structure to his running. At the same time, he is looking for track races and meets two times Olympic Trails Qualifier (marathon) Enoch Nadler, who was a former teammate of our very own Matt Hensley in Gainesville, FL. He connects Roy with Matt in August 2022 and Roy’s running odyssey continues. Now with Matt Hensley to guide him. I ask Roy what he likes about having a coach and Matt specifically.

“I like that the guess work is taken out of my running, having a coach takes out the effort of having to plan my month ahead. What I like about Matt is that he thinks about what you need to hit your goals, like strides before a workout, prepping for a tempo, working with thresholds and the different layers of running. It is smart coaching.”

Who is Roy the runner?

Roy and I chatted for a full hour and what I enjoyed about him, apart from the fact he is a very lovely person, was his drive to succeed and be better at his sport. As runners we are all competitive, but for Roy, I believe it is a genetic part of him, it makes him tick and pushes him forward in all he does, and it is that laser focus on the outcome that has made him the exceptional sportsman he is today. In his mind there is no room for not achieving his goals, he hates losing, “I mean I HAVE to win the Turkey Trot, I have won 3 Turkey Trots.” Yes, it may take time, and there may be some backward steps, but there is no doubt in his mind that he will get there, and the thing is the person he is most competitive with is. himself. His mindset is truly a beautiful thing to behold. To Roy it is simple, there are no bells and whistles’ he is like a running purist, because running is simple, it is a movement we can all do, there is no special equipment or court as such, it is just a body that works, some people do not even need shoes. Roy keeps running to the essentials, he does not make it complicated…

“You put in the work, or you do not, you make the time, or you do not, results come from effort.”

“TIME goals are my driver and inspiration; you move up in small increments it is like climbing a ladder.”

Roy makes the time. Working for the family business means his day can be long, therefore he does lots of his running and workouts at 6:45pm, mainly solo, or early at 5am, and at the weekends he can find a friend or two to do his easier long runs.

“I do need training partners, as it can be helpful in a workout to feed off another person’s energy, although training on your own can help build mental toughness.”

Chasing Goals.

We chatted about his goals; we talked about track versus the marathon. Right now, Roy wants to work on the shorter stuff as he is still only a mere 27 years old, and then maybe start progressing towards the marathon as he gets older; as statistics show, some of the world’s best male marathoners are in their late 30’s and have track backgrounds. Currently Roy’s big goals are to break the infamous 4 minute mile barrier and to OTQ (Olympic Trial Qualify) in the 1500m, this is a speedy 3 minute 37 sec time goal. He is currently 18 seconds off this goal. One could say mere seconds, but at that distance and speed this is a lot of dedication and hard work to accomplish.

Roy gets a lot of this drive not only from himself but also his father, who supports him and helps drive him forward. Roy in turn has given his dad the impetus to get back to his own running, at age 63 years he is now toying with doing some Masters (Over 40) racing, he is dealing with a few niggly injuries, but is always there to come and watch Roy as he races and trains, giving advice and encouragement. As a side note, Roy’s dad last race was the London marathon when he was fifty, that is pretty impressive.

These father / child relationships are hugely important to any child, but specifically the father / son dynamic is essential, or any steady, nurturing male influence on a young man is what can give them the confidence in a world that is so pressurized and fast paced to find their place and thrive. For Roy this is specifically valuable as he is naturally introverted and says people can think he is arrogant or standoffish and to know he has a person he can be truly himself with is essential. Especially as he dedicates himself to his running, which in many aspects, well like most sports, can come across as selfish and insular. Yet as a remnant ethos of his tennis days to be the best you have to work hard and stay disciplined; this translates perfectly to running.

As much as this has nothing to do with running, I also think it can have everything to do with running. Roy is also an avid Spec Miata racer. He basically races Mazda Miata’s super-fast. To race cars (which is a very intense sport) you have to be very precise, unafraid, dedicated, focused, and determined to win, because any hesitancy can mean a car spinning out of control. All of these facets translate well to succeeding in running. Therefore, Roy likes to go fast on four wheels and two feet. This is also a passion he shares with his father, and he has recently bought his own Ford Escort Mk1 vintage racing car.

The future.

To be honest for Roy at 27, the world is his oyster, just waiting to create pearls. Pearls, like sports, take years to create, perfect and to run in that perfect race where everything that you have worked on aligns in harmony. Roy has big goals, but they are truly aspirations I believe he can hit. I have interviewed many people, and we all hold similarities in our reason to / love of running, but Roy has that fighting spirit, the single minded determination to truly be the best at what he does, he is focused, talented and I know he will be fast and get faster.

“I want to work hard, stay disciplined, and reach the best level I can be. Whether that be college level or professional.”

Between you and I, I believe I have just interviewed a future professional runner.

Roy’s Stats.

Fuel - “Pedialyte (those hot days in FL) and I watch what I eat.”
Goals - “To keep getting better, PB’s and to stay healthy.”
Sneakers of choice - Nike Pegasus (daily trainers), Nike Streakfly (workouts), Nike Vaporfly (races).
People who inspire him - “My dad.”
The one thing people may not know about you – “I am a Formula 1 nut; I have watched around 90% of all F1 races from the age of 5 years to now. Best driver ever - Michael Schumacher.”

“There is no blueprint or formula to running, no matter what your age is.” - Roy Hobson