A BOOK paid tribute to the town’s best sportsmen and women back in 2010.
Writer Nathan Hemmingham’s book featured the likes of Tommy Taylor, Charlie Hardcastle, Darren Gough and Dorothy Hyman among the 28 stars featured.
Stars of the future were also included with chapters on cricketer Azeem Rafiq, boxer Josh Wale and diver Megan Sylvester.
Below are chapters on the now retired cricket star Katherine Brunt, John Mayock, James Kirton and Brian Stones.
The book is available to buy at: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Barnsleys-Best-Paperback/p/2611
Katherine Brunt
‘It was a bit surreal at first. We were all enjoying it, sipping champagne, and then all of a sudden we
turned into a road and there were three-quarters of a million people there and we just started screaming.
We couldn’t believe it, but that experience just made me realise what I had achieved.’
The story of Katherine Brunt’s rise to the top would be best served in the hands of a Hollywood director.
It is a remarkable tale of how an ordinary girl lived the dream as she went from local league cricket to the top of the world game. She was originally scarred as a child by her country, but like the end of a good blockbuster, she enjoyed an open-top bus tour in front of almost a million cheering fans.
Forget Bend It Like Beckham, this is Bowl It Like Brunty!
Born in Dodworth, the Penistone Grammar School pupil first played for Barnsley Cricket Club as a nine-year-old her father Mick and brother Dan played for the club and mum Sue helped out too. However, she would have had no idea what was to follow, especially as
her first taste of international cricket almost put her off that dream forever. She went for a trial with England as a fourteen-year-old, but it left her distraught.
‘It was like boot camp,’ Katherine explained. ‘I was doing a batting exercise with my Slazenger bat and on the back was Darren Gough’s signature. The coach asked what the writing was, so I told her it was a signature and she demanded to look. She started getting nasty and demanding it, so I gave it her and then she started yelling at me, telling
me I shouldn’t have given it to her and I was stupid. I burst out crying. I got in the car and did not want to play for England at that time. ‘Seeing how far I have come, I look back and wonder just how good I could be if I had been in the set-up earlier. I have never forgotten that day or forgiven the coach. I have seen her since and she was gobsmacked to see
me. She even apologised.’
With her dream in tatters, Katherine continued to play with the male teams at Barnsley, playing as high up as the second XI and when she turned sixteen she joined her first ladies’ side, Sheffield United CC. Katherine’s weight was also an issue, but after leaving school she decided to have one last crack at her lifetime ambition. ‘I had all the crap at school about my weight and I was always overlooked. I have wanted to make it so much, ever since that trial, just to prove those people wrong.’
She lost three stones in as many months, dropping to ten and a half stones, and teamed up with Barnsley coach Paul Shaw a leading figure in the women’s game.
In 2004 aged eighteen she felt ready to give her dream one last shot and she put herself up against the best at the Super Fours, a yearly competition held in front of the national selectors.
‘I knew I had to take some big wickets to stand any chance, so I went with a list of the top five in the country. There were only two I didn’t get, Charlotte Edwards and Clare Taylor. Afterwards, everyone wanted to know who I was and couldn’t believe I was the girl who turned up for that trial.’ To everyone’s amazement, Katherine caught the eye of the selectors
and she was instantly handed her England debut. Remarkably, and against all the odds, a year that began at local league level ended with an international call-up.
‘I went into a bit of a panic. It was against New Zealand and I had two days to pack. I did not know any of the players and my dad drove me to a service station where the team bus was picking me up. When it turned up I couldn’t believe it, the bus was the men’s one. I remember sitting on that and realising this was it.’
Her debut in the Test match at Scarborough was one to remember, claiming four wickets over the two innings including the one of Rebecca Rolls, the Kiwis’ top batter, who fell to the Barnsley girl twice. Katherine impressed and despite having just that solitary England
appearance under her belt, she was thrown straight into the limelight of the 2005 World Cup in South Africa. England went out in the semi-final against Australia and sadly for Katherine, she felt the pain of defeat more than most. It was from her bowling that the Aussies scored the winning runs. ‘My mum had come out to watch and after the game I went over to
her in the stands and just broke down in tears.’
As much as the year began with bitter disappointment, it was every bit as sweet by the end of it. The Ashes Test with the Aussies, the highlight of the cricketing calendar, offered her the perfect chance, and stage, to put that pain behind her. And what a fairytale. They drew the first Test at Brighton with Katherine taking five wickets over the two innings and remaining
unbeaten with the bat for the first time at international level. However, it was the second Test where she really made the headlines. England were victorious, winning the Ashes for the first time in forty-six years and Katherine was the star of the show. She took five wickets in the first innings, four in the second and was denied a full set when an lbw, which
showed up on the replay to be out, was not given. Yet it was not just her bowling that brought the plaudits. In the first innings, England ‘were dropping like flies’ with the bat when Katherine came in at number ten. Isha Gua was already in at nine and the pair stayed
together for four hours to end the day in possession.
‘I finished in the thirties and Isha in the twenties and we kept joking about the fact we could return the next day and open bat for our country. We said overnight how good it would be if we could get to fifty and started dreaming of getting that half-century. ‘I got into the forties and started thinking the fifty was reachable when Kath Fitzpatrick took over the ball. I got to fifty and couldn’t believe it. I had only ever scored one fifty in my life at club level, but here I was, batting at ten in the final Ashes match against the best bowler in the world at that time.’
An indication of how good that last-wicket stand was can be measured by the fact that it broke the England record for a tenth-wicket partnership. To celebrate both male and female teams winning the Ashes, an opentop bus tour was organised through the streets of London. ‘It was a bit surreal at first. We were all enjoying it, sipping champagne, and then all of a sudden we turned into a road and there were three-quarters of a million people there and we just started screaming. We couldn’t believe it, but that experience just made me realise what I had achieved.’ At the end of the route was a date with the Queen and a buffet at
Downing Street with the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. ‘It just felt like I was living the dream.’
To cap off a remarkable year, Katherine was not only player of the match in that second game, player of the Ashes series and player of the year for 2005, but she was also on the three-girl shortlist for the world player of the year, but missed out to arch rival Karen Rolton from Australia. Disappointed as she was to miss out on the top award, Katherine sought solace from the fact that she was now considered one of the best in the world. She was the face of women’s cricket; the golden girl who the junior players were now standing in awe of.
However, disaster was just around the corner. She was two days away from flying to India for the Quadrangular series when she suffered a prolapsed disc in her lower back during an England bowling session in the nets. The recovery would take almost eighteen months and she would spend most of that time in agony. There were doubts Katherine would ever come back.
‘I was in that much agony, I was just overdosing on painkillers. I would sleep for about one hour per night for two months. In the end I was suffering from insomnia and in a mess. I began to wonder if I would ever bat and ball again. I even polished my player of the year award and took a picture of it on my mum and dad’s mantelpiece in case I never saw it
again. It was the lowest I had ever been.’
For the time being she had to contemplate what might have been as she battled to regain fitness, but in true movie-script style, Katherine made the perfect comeback. She was back just in time for the visit of the West Indiesand South Africa. After beating the West Indies 20, Katherine took centre stage as England thrashed the South Africans 40. She recorded a careerbest five for twenty-five, which was also the best ever one-day bowling return at Lord’s at international level for both men and women. It is every cricketer’s dream to have their name on the roll of honour at Lord’s and the name Katherine Brunt, for the time being, is next to the best. She was also back among the top ten in the world, ending 2008 ranked
eighth. The following year wasn’t bad either.
She had been thinking about the 2009 women’s World Cup in Australia for the past four years. She had unfinished business after the pain of 2005 and just like back then, when she ended the tournament in tears, she was again emotional, but this time they were tears of joy as England beat New Zealand to become world champions. Katherine naturally played a key
part. She took six wickets throughout the tournament and was named in the World Cup Best XI banishing the hurt from South Africa.
‘There were a lot of tears and it was really overwhelming and emotional. I have been thinking about that moment for the past four years. In the year before the tournament I had been thinking about it twice, three times a day, having gone over it in my head so many times.
‘To be honest, it was the best feeling of my life. The Ashes was a big achievement, but the World Cup was definitely the best. I just felt on top of the world. The number one bowler in the world did not even make the World Cup Best XI, so that was a positive thing for me.’
After the celebrations had died down, Katherine turned her attentions to the Twenty20 World Cup in England just a few months later, where she again rode the emotional rollercoaster. England cruised through to the knockout round, but a freak injury towards the end of the group stages almost ended her tournament. She was taken to hospital with a suspected
fractured cheekbone after a ball bounced up and hit her in the face, leaving her with massive swelling under her eye.
She didn’t regain her sight until a week later, but fortunately, it was just in time for a semi-final showdown with the Aussies. With a shiner that made her look like she had gone twelve rounds with Ricky Hatton, Katherine returned to the action as England set up another final date with New Zealand.
And in keeping with how her international career had gone so far, the headlines the day after the final duly belonged to Katherine. Not only player of the match as England secured their second World Cup success, but she also recorded career-best Twenty20 international
figures of three for six from four overs. Her devastating spell had the White Ferns on the brink at twenty-three for four. They never recovered and were all out for eighty-five. England had little trouble overcoming the total.
At the age of twenty-four, Katherine has not only won the Ashes and two World Cups, but she has also been named England’s player of the year as well as player of the match on countless occasions. Her career path is proof that anything is possible and because of that
she offers genuine hope to all those who dare to dream.
‘I have met people who have said they want to be just like me and they have asked for my autograph and it is something I never thought would happen. You have to try and take it in your stride. I still think I am Brunty from Barnsley Cricket Club.’
John Mayock
‘I was not prepared for what was waiting for me when I walked out for the heats. It was very, very hot. It was 11am and your legs were getting fried on the start line. There were 110,000 people in the stadium and I looked up and just thought oh my God.’
John Mayock knows his way around an athletics track better than any of our runners, with a list of competitive races as long as the distance he was running.
He was destined for the top right from the start. The Kirk Balk pupil was coached by Pete Watson, mentor to a host of top-class athletes, at Barnsley AC. John’s training partner was none other than Olympic and World silver medallist Peter Elliott.
John would be Peter’s pacemaker in training and that helped him burst on to the scene in sensational style as a junior. He came second in the 5,000m at the European Junior Championships in Yugoslavia in 1989 aged nineteen, and then won the English Schools Cross Country in 1990. The 1991 World Student Games at Sheffield stands out as the highlight of his junior career, winning the 5,000m. More than 200 people from Barnsley were there to cheer him on and he caused a real stir by romping home to victory in 13-37 a massive thirty-five seconds off his personal best at that distance.
From here John became a Great Britain regular after a stunning silver in the 3,000m at the European Indoor Championships in Genoa in 1992. It was also the start of an amazing success story in the national AAAs, where he won the first of eight national titles. Incidentally, no other athlete has won that many. Sidney Wooderson won seven, but sadly for John, he is only classed as matching Sidney’s record because one of his titles is not recognised by the sport’s governing body.
However, a measure of just how successful John became during his thirteen years at the top is that he is still the fourth-fastest Britain over 1,500m behind Seb Coe, Steve Cram and Steve Ovett. His first medal for Great Britain, aside from indoor competitions, came at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada an experience John still looks back on fondly. He said: ‘The thing I enjoyed about competing for Great Britain was the many different countries I got to travel to. Canada was just a fantastic experience. It was my first major competition for Great Britain and I was rank outsider. I ran really well and got bronze. It was a great feeling to be stood on the rostrum, Roger Bannister presented me with the medal and I also shook hands with the Queen.’
He went one better in his second Commonwealths in 1998, landing silver, but before that, John had made his Olympic debut in the 1996 Games in Los Angeles when he was twenty-five.
‘Just to get hold of that Olympic vest was a fantastic feeling. When it arrived I took my vest and shorts out of the packet and did a bit of jogging on the spot in the living room. It then went back in the packet and did not come out again until the day of the heats. I would see some athletes wearing theirs out and about, but that was not for me. ‘I was not prepared for what was waiting for me when I walked out for the heats. It was very, very hot. It was 11am and your legs were getting fried on the start line. There were 110,000 people in the stadium and I looked up and just thought oh my God.
‘The worst thing is the call room. You had to be there forty-five minutes before your race and I cannot describe what it felt like waiting for the race. You are like a raging bull, you just want to be out on the track. When you get out there and the gun goes, it just felt like I was running
round Dorothy Hyman Stadium.’
John finished second to make the semi-final and finished seventh to make the final. ‘I thought I was going to finish last in the final because the standard of athletes were so good. I was fifth at the bell and starting to dream a little bit, but Hicham El Guerrouj tripped up in front and knocked everybody out of their zone. My legs were knackered and the setback just took its toll. I finished eleventh.’
An Olympic final in his debut at that event had the boy from Hoyland pinching himself and after highlighting his talent in America, it was no surprise that he reached the final of the 1997 World Championships in Athens. By twenty-seven, he was starting to hit his peak and went to Greece in the best shape of his life.
‘The World Championships have not been too successful for me. But in 1997 I was in fantastic shape and I thought I could maybe get the bronze. The problem was the field of athletes was the best ever. Before you had the likes of Coe and Ovett who were out on their own, but this time there was a group of about twenty athletes all very similar in ability.
John Mayock trained regularly at Dorothy Hyman stadium under the watchful eye of coach Pete Watson as he made it to the top of world athletics, featuring in three Olympics.
‘I walked out to see 100,000 people watching. I loved it. I really enjoyed the big occasions and big crowds. I thought a ninth-place finish was very good.’
When 1998 came around John was not only the fastest Englishman since the fab three, but in the top ten in the world over 1,500m and going from strength to strength. Gold at the European Indoor Championships at Valencia set him up for the outdoor Europeans that year, but John was denied a medal with the finishing line in sight. ‘I was well placed on the last lap in a bunch with three Spaniards and one Portuguese. With about 300m to go, one of the Spaniards moved out and knocked me wide, allowing the two Spaniards and the Portuguese to come through on the inside and I finished fifth.’
At his second Olympics in Sydney 2000, John was hoping for another final appearance.
‘I was in fantastic shape and reached the final quite easily, but once I got to the final my legs were really tired. If it was a slow race with a kick finish I would have been confident of fourth or fifth or even a medal, but the race was world record pace all the way round. I finished ninth, but I was really pleased with the run, I thought I did well.’
Two Olympic finals, undisputed national champion, top ten in the world, top five in Europe and European Indoor Champion is impressive to say the least, but John was not finished there. He enjoyed quite a year in 2002. An equal third finish at the European Indoors, an appearance at the World Cross Country Championships, fifth in the 5,000m at the World Cup, fourth at the Commonwealth Games, just missing out on a third medal, and another final appearance at the European Championships were among the highlights of an action-packed year.
His third and final Olympics came towards the end of his career in 2004 at thirty-four. He knew it would be his last major event, but went to Athens determined to secure a third appearance in the Olympic final. ‘I chose to run in the 5,000m and I actually went into the Games in really good shape. The standard was very high though and I was running
alongside El Guerrouj (double Olympic champion), Ethiopians and Kenyans who had been clocking 12-44 week in, week out. My best was 1318 at that distance so I knew it was going to be tough. Those athletes were of an awesome standard and I just missed the final by one place, but I was the highest-placed European.’
John retired from top-class athletics in 2005, bringing the curtain down on an illustrious reign at the top of middle-distance running in this country.
He competed in four European Indoor Championships, winning gold, silver and bronze; five World Indoor Championships; seven European Cups; one World Cup; three Commonwealth Games winning silver and bronze; two European Championships; four World Championships; three Olympics; one World Cross Country; one World Road Relay; one European Under-23 Championships, winning silver; one World Student Games,winning gold; and one World Junior Cross Country Championships. this magnitude. The list alone highlights the level that John reached and former coach Pete Watson says it was no surprise to see him competing against the world’s best for so long:
‘He was a regular at training and he was a very loyal athlete,’ Pete said. ‘He won the English Schools’ 3,000m at seventeen and then he just took off. He kept improving and even at thirty-four, he was still Britain’s number one, which itself speaks volumes. We had a great
relationship. He was dedicated at training and whatever I told him he would do. He never thought he knew it all, even after all the titles.
‘To be the fourth fastest behind Coe, Cram and Ovett tells its own story. A lot of people have gone to the Olympics, but to make two Olympic finals and miss out on a third by one place shows you how good he was.’
He is still Britain’s most decorated of national champions and his eight titles (seven officially) is something that stands out more than anything. ‘I don’t think people realise how much pressure you are under at these nationals. They acted as trials for the upcoming major events and it also affected your sponsorship and funding for the following year. Those titles
are something I am very proud of. The biggest thing for me was the inspiration from Pete Watson. I was very fortunate to have Pete as my coach and advisor for twenty-odd years.
‘He deserves an MBE for the amount of time and effort he has dedicated to not just his professional athletes, but all the youngsters he has coached over the years. He was the one who motivated me to become one of the best in the world.’
James Kirton
‘He was the best in the world and I absolutely destroyed him. I blew him away. I was swimming times I had never swum before. The times were that fast it was scary just how fast I was going.’
The story behind James Kirton’s rise to the top is a remarkable tale of bravery and dedication. Although it encompasses the glory that one can enjoy in professional sport, it is also a heartwarming tale of how a lifelong dream was almost, almost snatched away from him right at the death. Born in Wombwell and a pupil at Wombwell High School, James joined the Borough of Barnsley Club at the age of nine and began competing a year later. In his first season of competition he won a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke at the Yorkshire Junior Championships. That would be his first and last success in the pool for some time as
James was sixteen before he started to show promise. Winning the 100m breaststroke at the North Eastern Counties Championships was the result that kick-started his career.
He medalled in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the Yorkshire Championships and again at the North Eastern Championships in the 400m IM [individual medley] aged seventeen. The following year secured bronze at the National Junior Championships in the 100m and 200m breaststroke and 400m IM.
He joined the ranks of the seniors at nineteen in 2004 and it was here where he needed to specialise. He chose breaststroke and in particular the 200m distance. That decision looked well founded when, at his first National Senior Championships, he reached the final of both the 100m and 200m races.
James relaxes in the garden of his Wombwell home following his stunning victory in the national championships at Ponds Forge.
His career, slightly later than most, began to take off and he recorded a new personal best of two minutes and fifteen seconds to earn his first Great Britain call-up for the European Short Course Championships in Hungary. That was an indication of what was to follow because in 2005, James had a year to remember.
It began with the disappointment of missing out on the Commonwealth Games in April and he had to make do with the nationals in August as the only major competition that year. However, the GB swimmers from the Commonwealths, in particular his great rival Chris Gilchrist from Scotland, were in attendance at those nationals, but James stormed home
in first place to become national champion. He also smashed his personal best by three seconds, clocking 2-12.98. He then bagged a silver in the 100m, but more impressively, had also shot from just inside the top 100 in the world at the start of that year to a highly impressive twelfth.
If his showing at the nationals was not enough to convince everybody of his ability, an impressive showing at the European Long Course Championships in Budapest, where he finished sixth, was proof enough. By now, James had established himself as a Great Britain regular. He was England’s number one, Britain’s number two behind Gilchrist, twelfth
in the world and fifth in Europe. He was ready to make waves and the World Championships in Australia in 2007 was the ideal platform to showcase his talent.
However, it went horribly wrong.
James said: ‘I had gone out there in the best shape of my life, but for some reason I just died. It started well enough. After 150m of my heat I was in front and on course for a pb [personal best] time, but I just had nothing left. I got overtook and finished eighth. I was absolutely gutted. I was the most disappointed I had ever been. The Worlds is second only to the Olympics and my pb time would have got me in the final.’
To help get over the disappointment and to rediscover his form ahead of the Olympics, James jetted off to America to train with the world number one and world record holder Brendan Hanson from the USA.
‘He was the best in the world and I absolutely destroyed him. I blew him away. I was swimming times I had never swum before. The times were that fast it was scary just how fast I was going.’
He returned home delighted at his progress, but complaining of stiffness around the groin. His problem was a sportsman’s hernia and he needed to go under the knife. Little did he know he was now about to embark on a horrendous run of injury setbacks.
He began 2008 Olympic year with his mind focused on the trials in April. He went to a training camp in Tenerife to prepare, but suffered another twinge of the groin. That injury proved to be torn scar tissue and when that was healed, just three weeks before the trials, he snapped his abductor [muscle]. It meant he was unable to set foot in the pool until the
day of the trials.
With his Olympic hopes fading away, James knew he had two choices, pull out or swim injured. It was stick or twist time and James twisted. A top two finish would guarantee a place at Beijing. He still had the abductor injury, but with pain-killing injections, he heroically swam through the pain barrier. He finished second, behind Gilchrist, and with the trials being held in his home pool at Ponds Forge, it was an achievement he will never forget.
‘It was just pure adrenaline that got me through. I had no idea what to expect. I did not know if I would pull up in the pool injured, or if I would get through the race, I just had to give it everything.
‘Going down the final 50m I could see four of us in a line and I just thought: “Oh God, this could be anybody’s”. I had worked so hard, all my life, to get to the Olympics and no way was anyone denying me. I even slipped out of the top two at one stage during that last 50m, but I came back again with one last big effort in the final 25m to grab second.
‘You have never seen a response like it from the crowd. Everybody at Ponds Forge knew what I had gone through. It was the most I had ever celebrated. Just sheer relief more than anything. I couldn’t walk after. I remember the first thing I had to do when I got home was take the dog out. “Charming,” I thought.’
With his place at the Olympics now assured, James’s main aim was to win his battle with injury. It was a battle he lost. With just four weeks to go before Beijing James was forced to seek yet another professional opinion on his troublesome groin. He sought that of a specialist in Leicester and what he told him shattered his world.
‘He said the groin had not healed properly and I had two choices. I could have an operation and be out for four weeks, missing the Olympics, or I could not have it, but the next time it goes it would be game over.
‘I was devastated. It was my dream to swim in the Olympics and to have worked all my life to get there and then get told that just four weeks before the competition, I was gutted. I knew I had no option.’
James knew any hopes of doing himself justice at the Olympics had gone. If that was hard to take, what followed threatened to ruin his dream altogether. Just days before flying out, another twinge of the groin revealed more scar tissue damage. Pain-killing injections could not prevent him from suffering and he did not make the decision to swim in the Olympics until the day of the heats.
‘I had never had that type of setback before and it was hard to take. You never think about success, but when I was swimming 2-12 and competing in the Worlds and Europeans, all of a sudden you do start looking at things like the Olympics. And then bang, a setback. I was gutted more than anything else.
‘All those years of wanting to get to the Olympics and then when you reach it, it’s gone. Even though I eventually made it to Beijing it was the worst year of my life, definitely the worst ever. To Joe Bloggs, getting to the Olympics is major, but it’s about doing yourself justice when you are there and I couldn’t. I was gutted I couldn’t compete properly, it was an
unbelievably rubbish year.’
Having resigned himself to not being able to achieve anything close to his full capabilities, it was now all about pride. Could he swim in the heats and come through the full 200m without pulling up? He could, he finished eighth in the heat, which was all that could realistically be
expected, but from a personal point of view he had achieved a lifelong ambition he had competed at the Olympics.
‘I remember finishing and turning around and seeing a standing ovation from the team. They all knew how much pain I was in that day. They had all seen me upset in the days before the race. Just to finish that race was a massive achievement. A lot expected me to pull up injured in the pool, some said they thought I wouldn’t make it past the first length.
‘I decided to swim for pride. I knew I wasn’t going to do anything special so I decided to just jump in, swim as fast as I could and come home in a body bag. I was first at 50m and second at 100m and that first 100m was pb pace. On my second leg the groin went and I had to swim without kicking. I practically pulled my way through that last 100m. Everyone
overtook me at that stage and I finished last in my heat. The doctor said I went sheer white.
‘I still took a lot of heart from the Olympics. I had achieved something not many people can say they have achieved. Nothing will ever beat that feeling. I’m just gutted I couldn’t do myself justice.’
James’s aim now is to stay injury free and re-establish himself in the world rankings ready to make a splash at the 2012 Olympics in London.
‘I am going to take my time. There is no need to rush back. If I came back too soon and had to finish my career because of it, then it’s my own fault. If I did have to retire, even though I have competed in the World and European Championships and even the Olympics, I would not be happy. I would be proud of what I achieved, but there would always be a
gap where I would be unhappy.
‘I know I can get to the Olympic final and I honestly believe I can win the Olympics. When I am on form, no-one can get near me. I proved that when I destroyed the world number one.’
Brian Stones
Not only was his lift enough to land the gold medal, but just like the previous Paralympics, he again returned home to a hero’s welcome.
Brian Stones’ rise to Paralympic gold is a heartwarming tale of bravery, heroism and courage.
Brian lived an active life until one dreadful night in 1974 aged twentyfive. He was involved in a head-on car crash and such were his injuries, doctors gave him two days to live. emarkably, Brian pulled through, but he was paralysed from the waist down.
To his credit, he attended the spinal unit at Lodge Moor and Pinderfield Hospitals where he took up weightlifting. Incredibly, just three years after the accident, Brian became British Featherweight champion at the 1977 National Paraplegic Games in Stoke. It was the first
of nine national titles and along the way he would break the British record on numerous occasions. Indeed, he even smashed it three times at the 1981 National Games with three successive lifts.
Yet it was not just nationally where he made his mark. He was hugely successful in international competitions too. A month after his first national title he landed a brilliant silver at the International Paraplegic Games at Stoke. At the time, the competition was classed as the World Championships and the sight of Brian on the podium at these Games would be a common theme as he secured five silver medals.
He also competed in the first ever European Games in France in 1979 and this competition was his first on foreign soil. He came agonisingly close to a bronze, but having tied for third, he had to settle for fourth after his Polish counterpart had weighed in slightly lighter.
His impressive start did not go unnoticed by the national coaches and his reward was selection for the six-man squad heading to the Paralympics in Holland. It is normally held in the same country as the Olympics, but Moscow refused to stage the event. He almost pulled off a stunning medal-winning lift, but the bronze just eluded him right at the death. Not
too downhearted, he returned home to a deserved hero’s welcome.
His third and fourth International Games’ silver medals came his way in 1981 and 1982 and that set him up nicely for the 1984 Paralympics, which saw him achieve what looked unthinkable seven years earlier.
The competition was in Stoke after America pulled out and despite all the hurdles and challenges that had stood before him after that unforgettable night in 1974, Brian had somehow found the willpower and determination to become the champion of the world’s biggest sporting spectacle.
Not only was his lift of 142.5 kilos in the Featherweight enough to land the gold medal, but it was also the golden part of a Barnsley one and two, with Darfield’s Chris Wood taking silver. And just like the previous Paralympics, he again returned home to a waiting party of family, friends and various dignitaries.
At the age of thirty-five, Brian was not only the undisputed British number one, record-breaker and four-time world silver medallist, but he was now the Paralympics champion. He was not finished there though. A silver in the 1986 World Championships in Switzerland was the highlight of that year, before adding a ninth and final British title to his collection in 1987.
He was in good form for his third Paralympics in South Korea in 1988. It was the first time in twenty-four years the Games were held concurrently with the Olympics and Brian got his wish of competing at the main Olympic event. This time though, Brian had the added pressure of not only being the champion, but with age creeping up on him, he also
faced a stiff challenge from much younger and now stronger competitors. He finished a creditable fifth to bring the curtain down on a glorious, medal-laden career.
As role models go, Brian should be held up alongside the best. He is a fine example of how anyone can overcome the most difficult of obstacles and still become a success.
He is an inspiration and every bit the hero that he is.
