Elite off-road athlete Harry Bolton was perhaps destined for great things on higher ground from the moment his sporting adventure began aged 10 as a grassroots junior footballer.
“I just enjoyed running up and down the wing all day long,” Harry, now 23, recalled of those days around a decade ago in a young Keswick FC team managed by his father, Tony. “But I was never particularly good at playing football. When I got to the end of junior football, I was probably not big or strong enough to go into the seniors.”
Instead, encouraged by Keswick School PE teacher and keen ultra-competitor Dave Troman, Harry switched to running, initially completing parkruns and pounding streets before joining Keswick Athletics Club. And it was after a club trek up Latrigg at 16 that fresh-faced Harry knew he had found the perfect fit with fell running – a sporting discipline which leaves mere mortals fearing to tread at such speed over daunting terrain.
“The next thing I knew I was entering fell races. I struggled at first,” he admitted, looking back. “As a junior I wasn’t expecting to win anything or do particularly well. I just enjoyed doing it.”
But fast-forward to late 2023 and, from the kitchen of his family home in Caldbeck, Harry modestly reflects on the glittering array of impressive achievements during recent years which have stacked up; earned through his own hard work and research – and with invaluable help and guidance of Keswick AC team-mates.
This has brought him major Lakeland classic and other major race wins, course records, respect from seasoned Lakes campaigners he has conquered, international call-ups and, in 2022, being crowned both English and British under-23 fell running champion having finished runner-up in both competitions the previous year.
On representing England abroad, for example, he said: “You pinch yourself a little bit. It’s the sort of thing, when you’re starting in sport, you think and dream of. To be doing that, and walking around the host town in your country’s colours was a really cool experience.”
But laser-focused Harry, keen to maintain his upward curve of progression, is now making a fascinating next step: designing and testing fell running footwear through his work as a designer for renowned brand Ronhill.
Harry, who graduated from Loughborough University with a sports engineering degree in 2021, harboured designs on a career in such an industry years ago, during advanced studies at Keswick School.
“For an A-level project I made a prototype fell running shoe. I 3D-printed the sole and with help from mum (Carol, whose expertise is soft furnishings) I’d sewn an upper for it,” he says.
“I remember my teacher said, when I suggested the idea to him, ‘you can’t do that’. Because I think normally people make a nice table!”
Yet Harry’s determination earned him an A* for the project and, to boot, he won a national manufacturing and design industry prize after a Dragons’ Den-style pitching process.
An initial internship at Ronhill – the Manchester-based running apparel brand, founded in 1970 by British running legend Dr Ron Hill – fell through amid Covid before post-Brexit red tape put paid to hopes of a different job in Switzerland.
Yet when dad Tony then made a simple email enquiry to Ronhill about cushioned socks and a leading light of the company replied, he highlighted Harry’s qualities and that gained his son a foot in the door which then landed him a dream design job.
“Ronhill had everything in place to do footwear for the first time since the 1970s but they’d not actually recruited a designer,” said Harry. “I went there expecting just to be doing an internship but instead I did a research project of what type of shoe they should do. I presented it and expected them to say ‘thanks, this is what we’ve come up with’. But instead they said ‘that looks good, get cracking!’
“I wouldn’t have had the same experience anywhere else. If I was working in Switzerland I would have just been doing testing on a robot for the traction of the shoe. Here I’ve been able to do the whole shoe.”
During almost two years with Ronhill, Harry has spent time at his kitchen table – with views of High Pike – before lacing up his fell running shoes and putting his pedigree to good use.
“Often, I’ll be designing away, doing something, and then I’ll go for a run and that’s when you come up with most of the ideas,” said Harry.
“Especially when I’m in the initial stages. While testing a pair of shoes, I’ll be stopping my run constantly, typing notes into my phone, before getting back home and tweaking little bits based on feedback.”
The first range of Ronhill footwear designed by Harry are due to hit shops – including local stockists – in March. “I knew when I chose my A-levels that I wanted to do something related to this,” he explains. “Even when I played football I was always interested in the technology of products and design in general and then when I started running that’s when it moved up a level and I wanted to do it as a job. It will be cool to see other people wearing my shoe!”
Harry’s expertise is not limited to shoe design, though. During 2023, he also designed and made running vests at short notice which were then worn by members of the UK team – including himself – at the Youth Sky Running World Championships in Italy.
As he prepares to compete in 2024 and beyond, Harry says he is keeping his philosophy simple. “I want to just focus on enjoying it for as long as I can,” he says.
A Ronhill spokesman said: “Designing high performance running shoes is not merely a case of combining the latest technical components into shoes that look great.
“To create footwear that will genuinely improve a runner’s performance and enhance their enjoyment, the shoes need so much more. The designer needs to be passionate about, and immersed in running.
“A good product designer can review a development sample from the factory against a design brief. But the only way that the shoe can truly be elevated to the rarefied position of performance footwear is to run for miles in the shoes while analysing and obsessing over every detail. Only a runner, with a vast experience of running can do this.
“Harry Bolton lives and breathes off-road running. He lives in the heart of the Lake District, which is the perfect environment to combine his passion for trail running and footwear design.”
The spokesman added: “Keen-eyed local runners may have spotted various iterations of Ronhill footwear out on the local fells being tested by Harry and his trusted team of running friends. And if results are anything to go by it looks like Harry’s first range of high performance running shoes are going to be a success, with his footwear being worn by the winner of the Scafell Pike fell race earlier this year!”
