IN 2010 the PDC witnessed an influx of West Midlands-based talented tungsten throwers backed by local enthusiasts. The one to make the biggest ‘mark’ was Rugeley’s Mark Hylton. Known as ‘Mile High’ the former airline steward was offered the chance to trade in that ‘high life’ for a crack at a professional darts career.
Hylton, born in 1966 and, at that point, 43 years old, had already been active at an amateur level for more than 25 years when he made his first appearance in front of the television cameras in 2007. At the UK Open he defeated Ray Carver on stage in the first round but then went down on an outside board against Mark Robinson.
Rugeley based Hylton had worked as an airline cabin manager but in 2010 he was offered the chance to devote himself full time to darts. After a sluggish start, he failed to qualify for that year’s UK Open, the left hander’s fortunes began to pick up on the open circuit where he was winning a wide range of titles almost every week.
‘Paris’, as the left hander was sometimes known to fellow players, finally managed to translate this into PDC form after his management decided to gamble on sending him around the globe, to the USA, Canada but most importantly to the single Players Championship event in Australia, during the Summer of 2010.
Australia saw the one time scarf salesman reach the final of the Players Championship tournament defeating Rob Thornton and Mark Walsh along the way. Although he eventually lost that final to Dennis Priestley the ranking points/pounds went a long way toward securing his Ally Pally debut that December.
The translation of his off circuit form, coupled with a serious amount of structured practice, began to generate further good results and ‘Mile High’ managed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts for the first time, avenging the loss to Priestley in the final game. Although the sometime bar worker lost his three Wolverhampton group matches, against Gary Anderson, Mark Webster and hometown star Wayne Jones respectively, he improved with every game and garnered vital experience for what was to come in December.
Hylton was also well known for his walk-on called the Exit Drill, the pre-flight safety demonstration, a nod to his aviation past. Less well known is that it was World finalist Kirk Shepherd, a regular practice partner, who helped persuade him to perform it for that first GSoD appearance.
The much improved second half of the year performance saw Mile High qualified for the 2011 World Championship. In the opening round he caused a big shock by sending the 24th seed Steve Beaton home 3-2.
The Rugeley thrower had lift off and prepared strongly for his second round encounter. He defeated the 9th seed Colin Lloyd 4-2. Hylton’s maiden Ally Pally flight came to an end in the third round against Mark Webster, who proved too strong 4-1, although Mark had chances early on.
Hylton was named “Best Newcomer” in the PDC at that season’s awards event, due to his strong debut year. In 2011, he reached the quarter-finals at a TV tournament for the first time. At the UK Open he successively defeated Brian Woods, Geoff Whitworth, Andy Jenkins, Andrew Gilding and Peter Wright before losing to Denis Ovens. The quarter final was a superbly entertaining affair with Hylton, a little overawed, slipping to 0-5 after the first mini-session. The Rugeley man reversed the trend in the next two periods of play and increased his average by over 15 points – in half a dozen legs – to just under the 100 mark. Sid Waddell himself was barely contained in his excitement.
At the World Matchplay that same year, he was very close to a shock in the first round against Phil Taylor, but in the end ‘The Power’ narrowly won 10-8. At the World Grand Prix he reached the quarterfinals of a major for the second time that year. In the last eight the savvy Richie Burnett was too strong in a battling 4-1 win.
In 2012 Hylton made his appearance at the PDC World Championship for the second and final time. In the opening round he lost 3-2 against Vincent van der Voort.
Unfortunately the years that followed saw the break up of his original support team and Hylton struggled to repeat the promise of his first two years in the PDC.
He quickly dropped in the Order of Merit and lost his Tour Card at the end of 2014. Afterwards he tried a few times at Q-School, and played the challenge tour without great success. In 2017 he seemingly said his final goodbye to the PDC.
The post lockdown period saw Mark reappear on the radar. He had been once more winning local Open events and even captured a MAD title in the Autumn of 2021. Mile High was last seen attempting to qualify for the inaugural World Seniors Championship, without success.
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC
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