It is with deep sadness that we announce the untimely passing of popular local runner and triathlete Gill Bickle, who lost her battle with cancer earlier this week. She was a much-loved member of the Club and will be missed by many.
Gill ran the inaugural Brighton marathon in 2010 in 3.55 and four years later set her marathon PB in Brighton of 3.31. In August 2015, she set a track 5000m PB of 20.36. As much as she loved running, Gill was a keen triathlete and trained with a number of different groups, as well as competing for Brighton and Hove AC. She also raced with Brighton Tri. Her strength showed when running into the wind on dark, wet, windy run training nights on Hove Prom. She was always good into a headwind. And she always took a good race photo with her beaming and ready smile, arms usually aloft in the air with delight.
In 2016, she underwent surgery for a breast lump that turned out to be a squamous cell carcinoma. Her response was to book her next race and aim for ‘PBs all around. September 2017 saw her complete a 70.3 Iron Man World Championships. Her running PBs eventually came in 2022 with a 71.59 at the Great South Run, where she was ‘so chuffed ‘ to have run a ‘perfect race ‘. Then in 2023, she dipped under 20 minutes at her beloved park run and set her HM and 10k PBs of 93.26 mins and 42.19 mins, respectively.
Gill was not just an able and enthusiastic runner; she was also a great teammate who could offer support and motivation to others. She could be relied upon to bring her sense of fun and determination to cross-country events and the South Downs relay, which she loved.
In February 2023, Gill found another lump and needed more surgery. She was scared but still went ahead with racing Mel’s Milers 10 k at Christ’s Hospital, where she was thrilled to win a prize for being third female. We were all thrilled for Gill that day, but even more so when she announced with an exuberant post on Facebook in April 2023 that she was cancer-free.
This delight was unfortunately short-lived; in July 2023, Gill was told she would need more treatment. Gill rose to the challenges that lay ahead. She always saw the way through rather than dwell on the obstacles, the pain, and the fear. She excelled at advocating for herself and used her strength of purpose to face each stage with her characteristic pragmatism and clarity. She never lost her sense of humour, no matter how grim things were and was always thinking of others especially her dear husband Russ. After discovering her cancer was incurable in June 2024, she lived life to the full. Whenever one door became closed to her, she opened another.
Gill knew how to use support to achieve her goals which she did with marvellous skills. Gill was beautiful inside and out, with a high tolerance for mental and physical stress and the emotional self-awareness to know how this developed. Gills’s honesty, vulnerability, authenticity, and humour made her a very warm person to be around, and it was difficult not to love her. She styled out difficulty and was a role model to many, if not most, people who were privileged enough to get to know her and spend time with her. Not just because of her love of sports (and tapestry towards the end) and athletic prowess but for her love of and zest for life, which was infectious and perhaps most of all, her loving support of other people.
As we process this loss as a club and as a running and other sports community, our thoughts go out to Gill’s husband, Russ, and little dog, Flanders. Our hearts are broken.