Mark and Chipps look back at a few lost, but never forgotten, friends and colleagues from the past quarter century.
Twenty-five years is a long time for any community, and it’s inevitable that we would lose friends, colleagues and just plain great people along the way. Knowing it’s inevitable doesn’t help in any way to ease the loss. Here we pay tribute to some of those people no longer with us who have each played an important role in shaping Singletrack over the last quarter century.
Jenn Hill (1978–2016)
My first real interaction with Jenn was when she tore us a new arsehole for our poor coverage of women’s mountain biking at a UCI World Cup race event at Dalby Forest. I think I tried to defend our corner, but it was futile. She was quite right, and once I came to terms with that, I thought we’d be best served by inviting her to come aboard as deputy editor. To say she changed things is an understatement. Jenn was a force of nature, which is, of course, a cliché, but clichés are born from truth. She brought a level of organisation that Singletrack desperately needed at the time, and along with that came her incredible talent for writing from the heart.
Her competitive nature, appetite for physical challenge and overall fitness and energy were inspirational to all around her, and so it was a massive shock to all when she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in her mid-thirties. Jenn continued to work for Singletrack up to a matter of a few weeks from her death in 2016. Her legacy lives on to this day in the workflow and direction of Singletrack Magazine, and the hospice in Leeds (St Gemma’s) where she spent her final days remains our first port of call for charity donations. M.A.
Rob Fisk (1956–2024)
MerlinMan was his forum moniker, a name he earned through his love for a titanium Merlin hardtail that, despite the thousands of miles he put into it, never looked anything but showroom fresh at the start of every ride. Rob was one of Singletrack’s earliest supporters, and he quickly became a good friend to everyone who worked here. For Rob, that was not a hard challenge as he was genuinely one of the nicest, calmest, soft-spoken people you could ever wish to meet. Such was his calm demeanour that he became a volunteer moderator of the forum, a tough job he held right up to the day we lost him two years ago from cancer.
Steve Worland (1956–2014)
When Singletrack magazine was literally just a thought experiment, Steve Worland was there as an advisor to Chipps, Shaun and me [Mark]. Technically, he worked for Future Publishing’s MBUK and so some would suggest he was the ‘competition’, but Steve lived for mountain biking and insubstantial concepts like competition between magazines were of no consequence to him. He advised us on how we should produce issue 1 and then promptly told us what about that issue was good and what was frankly shit. We managed to get him on the cover of issue 11 and, once he shook off the constraints of contracts, we persuaded him to write some stuff for us, eventually becoming our bike test editor.
That was a huge win for Singletrack and helped cement our reputation in the cycling media landscape and throughout the industry. Steve died far too soon of a heart attack in 2014 during a parkrun event. His death was a massive shock to not just us, but the world of mountain biking, in which he’d built a reputation that, to this day, has arguably never been matched for a mountain bike journalist.
Pat Adams (1951–2024)
Pat Adams was widely considered the grandfather (or cheeky great-uncle) of 24-hour mountain bike racing. He introduced mountain biking to the Royal Family and even pioneered the young upstart brand Red Bull’s introduction to the UK mountain bike scene.
However, Pat was best known for starting Mountain Mayhem, the UK’s first 24-hour race, in 1998 and running it for over 20 years. Those events were a meeting place for pro athletes, dirtbag singlespeeders, first-time racers and keen trail riders, all sharing a festival-like atmosphere with Pat Adams at the centre. Despite not riding a mountain bike in his later years, Pat was still a mountain biker through and through. Singletrack became a title sponsor of Sleepless in the Saddle, the 24-hour race which was a spin-off from Mountain Mayhem after it became massively oversubscribed. Pat remained a friend and confidante of the magazine right until his death in 2024.
Colin Meagher (1968–2026)
With typical photographer’s precision and Colin’s legendary humour, he sneaks into our list just in time for the magazine deadline. Please read issue 165’s interview with Colin for the full story. Colin died peacefully, on his own terms, at the end of February this year, after a years-long battle with ALS/motor neuron disease. He was a good lad, and we’re happy that he got to see his interview in print before he left us.
And with that, we’d like all of our friends, co-workers, industry colleagues and families to continue to live forever, as no one likes writing this stuff, OK?
Donations in memory of Jenn Hill can be made to St Gemma’s Hospice in Leeds.
