Birchfield Harriers celebrate double success
Dec 10 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail
BIRCHFIELD Harriers are celebrating double delight after being named as the most successful club in the history of the British Athletics League and the UK Cup.
Statisticians have calculated results from the last four decades and the Perry Barr club comfortably came out on top in both league and cup.
Birchfield were crowned the first ever national Men’s League champions back in 1969 and have won the league title on another four occasions during their long stay in the top flight.
The Stags, who have been sponsored by AGA Rangemaster since 1984, scored 1,177 points which was almost 100 points more than their nearest rivals, Thames Valley Harriers, former Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie’s old club.
Sale Harriers/City of Manchester finished third with Daley Thompson and Mo Farah’s club Newham and Essex Beagles in fourth place based on their league performances.
Wolverhampton and Bilston, who were BAL champions between 1975 and 1982, missed out on a top ten position by just one place with 724 points after painstaking analysis by the distinguished track and field statistician and commentator Peter Matthews.
Dave Lawrence, team manager since 1981, received a special merit award as one of only two individuals from any club who are still active in the national competition after participating in 1969.
“I am proud of the fact that we have had consistency over the years,” said Lawrence.
“In 20 years we have never been lower than fourth.
“We have had many great athletes such as Phil Brown, Derek Redmond, Robert Weir and more recently Mark Lewis-Francis but our continued success here has been a team effort.
“Our coaches deserve as much credit as the athletes and we do what it takes to achieve success.”
The Stags completed an impressive double when they were named as the most successful club in UK Cup Final history with 23 appearances since the competition began in 1973.
They scored 126 points to edge the award by the slender margin of half a point from their north London rivals Shaftesbury Barnett.
Wolverhampton and Bilston, who were the first cup winners in 1973 and went on to win the trophy on another four occasions between 1976 and 1980, were third.
This year Birchfield were runners-up in the UK Women’s League Division One and the UK Junior League Final and third in the BAL Premier table.
