Birchfield Harriers
Encyclopedia
Birchfield Harriers is an athletics
club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham
's Alexander Stadium
, England
.
Named after the Birchfield
district of Birmingham, their previous home (from 1929-77), at nearby Perry Barr
, was Alexander Sports Ground
. It still carries their badge, a running stag
, rendered in this case in Art Deco
style, carved in 1929 and attributed to William Bloye
. Both venues were named for members of the Alexander family, who were prominent members of the club.
As well as welcoming recreational runners they cater for all levels of experience up to and including Olympic
athletes
whether able-bodied or wheelchair
-using athletes.
The Club's motto
is Fleet and Free.
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
's Alexander Stadium
Alexander Stadium
Alexander Stadium is an international athletics stadium located within Perry Park in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England, at . It has staged the Amateur Athletics Association Championships, and was the venue of the 1998 Disability World Athletics Championships...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Named after the Birchfield
Birchfield
Birchfield is an area of Birmingham, England. It gave its name to the Birchfield Harriers athletics club, now based at the nearby Alexander Stadium, also in Birmingham.- References :...
district of Birmingham, their previous home (from 1929-77), at nearby Perry Barr
Perry Barr
Perry Barr is an inner-city area in north Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Perry Barr ward and the wards of Handsworth Wood, Lozells and East Handsworth, and Oscott, which elect three councillors to...
, was Alexander Sports Ground
Perry Barr Stadium
Perry Barr Stadium is a stadium and racetrack on Aldridge Road in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England....
. It still carries their badge, a running stag
STAG
STAG: A Test of Love is a reality TV show hosted by Tommy Habeeb. Each episode profiles an engaged couple a week or two before their wedding. The cameras then follow the groom on his bachelor party...
, rendered in this case in Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style, carved in 1929 and attributed to William Bloye
William Bloye
William James Bloye was an English sculptor, active in Birmingham either side of World War II.He studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art , where his pupils included Gordon Herickx, Raymond Mason and Ian Walters...
. Both venues were named for members of the Alexander family, who were prominent members of the club.
As well as welcoming recreational runners they cater for all levels of experience up to and including Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
athletes
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
whether able-bodied or wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
-using athletes.
The Club's motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
is Fleet and Free.
Honours
- 800m relay runner Pat Cropper was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her running achievements.
- In the 2000 New Years Honours List, heptathlete Denise LewisDenise LewisDenise Lewis OBE is a retired British athlete who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.-2000 Olympics:...
was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). - Coach Norma Blaine was made an MBEMBEMBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
in the New Years Honours announced on 31 December 2010, for her services to athletics.
Athletes at the club
- Ainsley BennettAinsley BennettAinsley Bennett is a British former Olympic and World Championship sprinter from Birmingham, UK.-Early life:Brought up in Birmingham, West Midlands, in the UK, Bennett attended Naseby Secondary Modern School , in the area known as Alum Rock, Birmingham...
- Louise ButterworthLouise ButterworthLouise Butterworth is an English pole vaulter from Paignton, Devon. She currently competes for Birchfield Harriers and has represented Great Britain.Her personal best jump is 4.21 metres, achieved in June 2008 in Poland....
- Daniel CainesDaniel CainesDaniel Stephen Caines is an English athlete who mainly competes in the 400 metres.-Early life:He was educated at Solihull School, a British independent school in the affluent West Midlands town of Solihull...
- Stewart FaulknerStewart FaulknerStewart St. Ledger Faulkner is a retired British athlete who competed in the men's long jump event during his career. Although his career was plagued by severe tarsal tunnel syndrome , he achieved relative success early in his track life...
- Helen Frost
- Ashia HansenAshia HansenAshia Hansen, MBE was a British triple jumper who competed internationally from 1994-2008.-Early life:...
- Louise HazelLouise HazelLouise Victoria Hazel is an English athlete from March, Cambridgeshire, who specialises in the multi-event heptathlon. She has competed in four major international championships. The first was in 2006 when she came 17th at the European Championships and the second was three years later when she...
- Helen Karagounis
- Du'aine LadejoDu'aine LadejoDu'aine Ladejo is an English-born athlete and television personality. In his sports career, he was best known for winning the 400 metres sprint gold medal at the 1994 European Championships and being a member of the United Kingdom and England 400 metre relay squads at the European Championships,...
- Diane LeatherDiane LeatherDiane Leather is the first woman to run a mile in less than 5 minutes. Representing the Birchfield Harriers, Leather broke the 5 minute barrier with a time of 4 minutes and 59.6 seconds, during the Midlands Women's AAA Championships at Birmingham's Alexander Sports Ground on 29 May 1954 - just 23...
- Denise LewisDenise LewisDenise Lewis OBE is a retired British athlete who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.-2000 Olympics:...
- Mark Lewis-FrancisMark Lewis-FrancisMark Anthony Lewis-Francis is a British track and field athlete, specifically a sprinter, who specialises in the 100 metres. A renowned junior, his greatest sporting achievement at senior level has been to anchor the Great Britain and Northern Ireland 4 x 100 metres relay team to a shock gold...
- Katharine MerryKatharine MerryKatharine Merry is a former English female sprinter.-Career:A member of the Birchfield Harriers athletics club, Merry won a bronze medal in the 400 metre sprint at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.Merry had a career that spanned 20 years. Aged 12 she topped the UK Under 13 Rankings in...
- Peter RadfordPeter RadfordPeter Frank Radford is a former British athlete, who competed at 100 & 200 metres , broke world records, and won Olympic medals, despite being using a wheelchair by a serious kidney illness as a child.He took up competitive running at the age of 12, soon joining Birchfield Harriers, where he was...
- subsequently Chairman of UK AthleticsUK AthleticsUK Athletics is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials....
and Professor of Sport at Brunel UniversityBrunel UniversityBrunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....
. - Archie Robertson - Birchfield's first Olympic gold medallist (1908).
- Kelly SothertonKelly SothertonKelly Jade Sotherton is an English heptathlete and 400m sprinter. She was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and was fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She also was a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and was the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth...
- Jade Surman
- Bob Weir
- Patrick Makau