The obituary notice of Mark HOBSON

I only met Mark in 2024, when four of us runners separately converged on Paro, Bhutan. Four people who seemed unlikely to join group / guided travel, much more suited for solo travel, but we all immediately found kindred spirits in each other. A marketing exec, a retired pharmacist, a professor, and Mark. We rode around in a mini-bus with our guide and driver for four days, just the four of us. I called my wife and told her that I'd found my people. Mark was such a gentle soul. He was easy to talk to, with such wisdom. We sat in the hot springs tub together in Paro and talked of running, family, and life. As much as he loved running but he loved his family more.

We, the group, plus another Bhutan runner, regularly have kept in touch and had a WhatsApp group. When Mark told us he had cancer and his care was palliative the pain we felt was palpable. We could, I think, all feel it through our group from wherever in the world we were: Scotland, India, Boston, and Tennessee. We thought about all converging in the Lakes and trying to go for a fell run with Mark but decided he may want to save his last weeks to spent time with those closest to him. His family and his new granddaughter.

I only knew Mark briefly, but his life and his experience, his conversation, wisdom, and his smile and warmth, were immediately valuable to me.

When we were at the start of the run in Bhutan, about a mile in Mark passed me and I snapped a few photos of him going by. When I look at those photos now I think about Mark running off into the sunset, or the mountains, of fell, or wherever.

Have a good run, Mark. I wish I'd met you years ago.

Ive known Mark my entire life, which is obviously how things work but its a strange thing to think about, and how all of that changes as your perspective changes. Id forgotten how much he liked noodly guitar music! He was the first person I ever knew who had a guitar, or a motorbike, or a moustache. He blew my mind showing me how you could make video games yourself. He was always so proud of my cousins. The way he lit up over his grandchildren was the sweetest thing, and reminded me of when Sarah and Hannah were small too (and i was a little bigger). He loved Michelle so much, and he was loved so much.

Mark and I spent many years together in Rochdale Harriers through the 80s. For some reason we where both interested in statistics. He eventually took over from me as the Fell running associations official Statastition. We had to collect results from every fell race throughout the year to work out who had amassed the most points to be the champion. He also took part in all the club relays, especially when running in pairs. He was a lovely chap and enjoyable to be around. Everyone will miss you Mark. Kev Shand.

Mark was one of life's great characters who lived life to the full, and lifted up all who knew him; dedicated to everything that he did, dedicated to helping all that he knew.
We will miss him here at work, he will be missed by all who knew him.
RIP Mark
Steve Shepherd

I first met Mark when he joined VME at the start of Appex. I quickly realised how knowledgeable he was about VME and especially the catalogue.

Initially, he was a work colleague, but we soon developed a friendship which grew over the past 16 years or so.

He was always very professional in his approach to his work, he never gave less than his best and would never settle if there was a better solution. He loved setting challenges for me to test his code, because he was a guy that always looked for ways to improve it.

On a more personal note, since I moved away from Manchester, we continued our friendship mainly as phone conversations, both about work and home matters, especially his passion for running in ever more unbelievable places. The last time I saw Mark was when he came to visit Joan and I in Lincolnshire and we will both remember that day with fond memories.

He talked about becoming a grandfather and how he loved spending time with his grandchildren and we shared our experiences of our children and grandchildren.

This untimely passing of Mark was a huge shock to us and has left a void that no one can fill, his dedication, his passion, his professionalism and his friendship will always be remembered and treasured by me and many others.

The sadness we feel for Mark's wife Michelle and family is very real and we send our heartfelt condolences to them all.

He will be profoundly missed by me personally and the whole VME team.

Thank you Mark , for everything and always being 'you'.

Neil and Joan Hallam

Mark was such an inspiration too so many. I’ve known Mark since I was 16, for me he was the Yoda of running. The Master. I was forever the eager apprentice. Mark also played a part in my career at FJ, my Teamleader, Mentor, always seeing something I never did. We were close friends for many years. Through our love of running, adventures and shared experiences.
I’ll truly valued our friendship and the support/advice he often shared. I’ll miss our coffee catch-ups, I’ll miss you taking us along, showing us his special routes, the mountain goat, him chatting and leaving us in his dust! All those lunchtime runs, the 1KM Sprints 😊

We would never know what madness he had lined up until it popped up on Strava. So sneaky! Hill repeats were often a favourite. You’d often say just one more hill, it was never one more! 🤣
I did a trip to Kilimanjaro recently, something I knew Mark had done before. On the hard days I’d hear him saying, ‘just put one foot in front of the other’. Those words got me through a lot of races!
Thank you Mark for showing me true friendship, through the good and tough times.
So very hard to say goodbye. Miss you, never forgotten.
Pam x