Roy Fowler (runner)

Early life and career

Fowler was born Longsdon near Leek, Staffordshire. He took up running in his youth after suffering from pneumonia, in order to improve his health. He performed well in running at school, winning his first race aged 14. He was also a keen footballer and had a trial for Manchester United, though this was unsuccessful. He joined the local athletics club and as he grew older he joined the national level club Stone and District AC (now North Staffs and Stone Harriers). He gained the nickname the "Red Fox" due to his speed at cross country and his red hair. He worked as a painter and decorator in his teens and early twenties, as well as a stint with the army due to national service in the late 1950s.

He began to make his impact on the regional scene in his mid-twenties. He won the 3-mile track title at the Midland Counties Championships in 1960 then was victorious at the 1961 Midland Counties Cross Country Championships. He won go on to win the Midland cross country title once more, in 1968, and took two more counties track titles: the 3 miles in 1963 and the six miles in 1968. A win at the 1961 Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships, achieved in heavy snow while he had been off work due to an illness, brought him to greater attention as he beat British record holder Bruce Tulloh among others.

International and national career

His international career began in 1961 and would eventually take in 38 national selections for England. He won his first medal at the 1961 International Cross Country Championships, placing eighth to bring the English men to the silver medals alongside medallists Basil Heatley and Martin Hyman. He focused on the track in 1962 and came away with his first individual medal at the 1962 European Athletics Championships, securing the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres behind Soviet runner Pyotr Bolotnikov, in spite of a groin injury. Fowler was only the second British man to win a European medal at that distance, after Frank Sando. He made an appearance over the same distance at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, but was far off the podium in eighth place. Amongst other local outings, he won the Rivington Pike fell race.

His most successful season came in 1963. At the 1963 International Cross Country Championships in San Sebastián, Spain, he surprised by topping the field, beating the much more established Gaston Roelants by over ten seconds. Roelants (the defending champion and later European and Olympic champion) challenged Fowler to a re-match for £3000 (a very large sum for the period), but he refused as he wished to preserve his amateur status for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This ultimately was not to occur, however, as persistent pain in his shins was diagnosed as hairline fractures and he was absent from the sport for a year and a half.

After returning from his injury he made three further top level international appearances and these were successful ones. After winning the Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza meet, he was fourth at the 1966 International Cross Country Championships in Rabat, leading the English men to the team gold with the help of Ron Hill, Tim Johnston and Mike Freary. At the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in 1967 he was runner-up to old rival Roelants, but this was enough bring North Staffs & Stone Harriers to its first (and thus far only) ever team title at the competition.

Nationally, his greatest achievement was a win in the six miles at the AAA Championships in 1962. He won this title in a time of 27:49.8 minutes, which was a British and Commonwealth record at the time. Despite his international success in cross country, he never won at the English Cross Country Championships, having only had two top three finishes with second to Basil Heatley in 1963 and third behind Ron Hill and Mike Freary in 1968. In his last senior cross country appearance, aged 33, he won a bronze medal at the 1968 International Cross Country Championships. Tunisia's Mohamed Gammoudi topped the rankings but the Englishmen, led by Hill in second and Fowler in third, again topped the team rankings.

Later career and life

He continued to compete into his later years and was a leading athlete during the development of masters athletics. At the 1975 World Association of Veteran Athletes Championships – the first edition of that competition – he took a long-distance triple in the men's over 40 category, winning 5000 m, 10,000 m and cross country events. He returned for the 1977 edition and defended his 10,000 m title but was beaten into second place by Gaston Roelants (another former world cross country champion) in the other two disciplines.

Fowler retired due to injury in his mid-forties but continued to work in sport, including fitness work at Stoke City F.C. for England goalkeeper Gordon Banks among others, and athletics coaching, including Mark Roberts (multiple winner of the Potteries Marathon). John Bale and Malcolm Henson wrote a biography of Fowler, published in 2006, called A Fighter Second To None. He was also the subject of a short documentary film, Red Fox: The Life of Roy Fowler, released in 2007. Fowler died of cancer in 2009, leaving his second wife, Elizabeth, two sons, a daughter and a stepdaughter.

National titles