Marathon man fills the void
SHANE’S LIFE AFTER RUGBY
THE pain began before Tower Bridge. By mile 15 Shane Williams’ hamstrings were pleading for mercy.
As he left the City and passed along the Embankment his head started to throb. His shoulders cramped up. His calf went.
But when Wales’ record tryscorer finished the London Marathon and caught his breath he paused and thought to himself, ‘How good was that?’
“Worth every second of the pain,” said the wing wizard. “I loved every moment. It gave me the feeling back again.”
It is a decade since Williams’ last Test, seven years since he announced his retirement. He might have thrived in the land of giants but this pocket rocket makes no such claim about life beyond the final whistle.
“I knew there was going to be a big void in my life,” he said. “Not playing was something I dreaded. It’s the camaraderie you miss. I struggled without it, I really did.”
He was luckier than most. He saw it coming. Before the last of his 58 Wales tries he began putting in place charity challenges, be they Ironman, marathon, bike ride.
“People always think, ‘You played rugby or football, you earned money, you must be fine’,” he said. “Everyone has their problems. Money doesn’t solve everything. We all cry.”
Last weekend brought Mental Health Day and a reminder that, as Williams puts it, “life’s not all sunshine and rainbows”. He reckons retiring from pro sport must be like coming out of the military. “You go from spending almost every day – breakfast, lunch, sometimes dinner – with these boys,” he said. “Then one day they’re not there any more. It can be very lonely.
I’ve spoken to a lot of lads who have been in dark places. Some are still struggling 5-10 years on. As a sport we need to look out for each other more.”
His marathon effort brought a personal best time of three hours 24 minutes and funds for the Velindre Cancer Centre. He quickly turned his attention to supporting the Tackle HIV campaign led by Gareth Thomas.
“I know people are going to say I’m having a mid-life crisis,” he said. “But challenging myself, getting that competitive feeling again, makes me feel alive.”
Tackle HIV is a campaign led by Gareth Thomas, in partnership withViiV Healthcare and the Terrence Higgins Trust, to tackle stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. Visit www.tacklehiv.org and follow @TackleHIV