John Mountain Obituary, Death – We must share the sad news with you that John Mountain, a former athlete who competed for the Chelmsford Athletic Club, has passed away. Our hearts go out to you at this time. John became a member of the Athletic Club in the early 1960s, during a time when the club’s offices were still on Waterhouse Lane. After that, he went on to compete for the Athletic Club in a number of other cross-country races, but the road races were where he found the most success. He had a great time running, and over the course of the next four decades, he established himself as a club mainstay.
However, in the middle of the 2000s, he came to the conclusion that it was time for him to finally hang up his running shoes for good. John enjoyed running longer distances and participated in a number of marathons all throughout the country, including the illustrious London Marathon seven times. He was a fan of the longer distances. In 1980 and 1983, he ran the London to Brighton race in highly outstanding times, which led to his greatest accomplishments to that point in his career. He completed the race in 1980 in a time of 7 hours, 36 minutes and 26 seconds, and he completed the marathon in 1983 in a time of 7 hours, 29 minutes and 32 seconds.
Anyone who competed alongside John during his extensive training for these competitions will never forget the support and inspiration he provided to those who were getting ready for races that lasted a lot less time than the ones he was training for. From the time he retired from racing till the awful day he went away, he spent his time lending his support and encouragement to everyone around him. When John’s wife of 60 years, Freda, was given the honor of being Mayor of Chelmsford in 1996/97, John became Mayors Consort, or as he liked to put it, he became Mayoress. Freda was the first woman to hold the position of Mayor in Chelmsford. Together with Freda, John put in countless hours of labor in the political arena, and he was there for her every step of the way.
John, you are going to be much missed by many people.
