In 1963, Hill won the 6-mile (9.7 km) event at the British Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) championships in a time of 27:49.8, equalling the UK record.

In the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, he placed seventh in the 10000 m.[4] In 1969, Hill won the European Championships Marathon on the Marathon-to-Athens course.

In 1970, Hill became the first British runner to win the Boston Marathon,[6] by a wide margin, shattering the course record by three minutes with a time of 2:10:30.

In July, at the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, he became the second man ever after Derek Clayton to break the 2:10 barrier, clocking a world record time of 2:09:28.

[12] His streak included workouts after a car crash in 1993 when Hill broke his sternum, and after bunion surgery, after which he used a crutch to cover one mile (1.6 km) in 27 minutes the next day.

[14][15] On 20 December 2014, Hill completed Manchester's 5 km Heaton Park parkrun, achieving his goal of running at least a mile a day for 50 years.

"[18] After graduating from the University of Manchester with a PhD in textile chemistry, Hill was convinced of the benefits of synthetic materials for runners.

In 1970 he started a company named Ron Hill Sports, which pioneered various products including wrap-over shorts, mesh vests, waterproof running jackets, and reflective strips.

Hill related that he founded the company "because I was running to and from work in the dark in winter and wondered what I needed to stay safe."