Joe Birrell

Barrow Grammar School student Joe Birrell was an outstanding junior 120-yard high hurdler and won the 1947 Junior AAA title. The following year, at the age of 18, he was the Northern champion and, despite wearing borrowed running kit, won the senior AAA title ahead of two Australians, Peter Gardner and Charles Green, who, like Birrell, competed at the Olympics that year. Gardner finished a creditable fifth, and for Birrell it was a whole new experience as he ran on a cinder track for the first time, in new running shoes, and had the luxury of using starting blocks for the first time in his career.

For his outstanding achievements in 1948, Birrell became the first recipient of the AAA Best Junior Athlete of the Season Award. He joined the Army for his National Service shortly after the Olympics, but maintained his form in 1949, finishing second to Don Finlay at the AAAs. Birrell’s form dipped after that, however, and other than finishing third behind Peter Hildreth and Jack Parker in the 1951 and 1952 County Championships (representing Lancashire), and winning the 1957 Lancashire title, Birrell could never replicate his glory year of 1948, although he probably would have been chosen for the Helsinki Games had it not been for injury. Fortunately, his brother Bob was to carry on the family tradition as a fine high hurdler, and he competed at the 1960 Olympics, enjoyed three podiums at the AAAs, and competed in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958 and 1962. His sister, Janet, represented England at hockey.

Birrell was a physical education (PE) teacher at his old Barrow school, where one if his pupils was his younger brother Bob. After his competitive career was over, however, Joe moved to East Africa where he helped to coach hurdlers in Uganda and Kenya. He also ran the Ugandan basketball team, and the country´s future dictator Idi Amin had lessons from Birrell, although he declined Amin´s offer to coach his army team. Birrell returned to the UK in 1979 and taught mathematics and PE at Lancaster Royal Grammar School until his retirement in 1990.

Personal Best: 110H – 15.0 (1951).