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JACK WINFIELD - HE JUST KEPT RUNNING

You & Yesterday includes a growing archive connected to Derbyshire athletics. Here Peter Seddon pays tribute to the distance runner Jack Winfield, who in his 1930s heyday raced against the world's best on level terms.

Jack Winfield and his wife Dorothy in 1983 - fifty years earlier Jack was a leading distance runner of international standing

John William 'Jack' Winfield was born one of seven children on 27 October 1907 in Stanley Common, Derbyshire.

As a young man he became a well-known athlete of international standing. He was attached to the Derby and County Athletic Club and represented England in long-distance and cross-country championships. He also ran for Great Britain in the 1930 British Empire Games (later known as the Commonwealth Games) in Canada.

Yet it was quite by chance that Jack Winfield discovered he had a natural talent for running. His opportunity came courtesy of his coal-miner brother, who was spotted by a Derby Athletic Club talent scout during a miners' road race in Nottingham.

Later officials asked 19-year old Jack to pace his brother on a three-mile run around their village. Many years later Jack recalled the occasion: 'I was given a three-minute start, and by the time my brother arrived at the house I was already at home and changed into my clothes.'

It was this revelation which started him training regularly with the Derby club under its trainer Joe Farmer, and he made light work of the junior and district races to eventually become captain of England's cross-country team.

In both 1930 and 1931 Jack Winfield was British Amateur Athletic Association champion over the 10-mile distance - in 1930 he won in 53 minutes 5.4 seconds and the following year came home in 54 minutes 34.4 seconds.

Another big honour befell him in 1930 when he represented England in the British Empire Games in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where he won the Bronze medal in the 3 mile event.

A greater honour still was that he was twice picked to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games - in Los Angeles 1932 and Helsinki 1952, when he was then a real 'veteran'. But much to his regret he had to turn down the opportunity on both occasions. He explained: 'There was no sponsorship then like today. We would get our bare expenses paid by the athletics club, a ticket to the race and back, but that would be all. Naturally I was very excited when the letters of invitation came, but I knew straight away that I couldn't go. I simply coudn't afford it.'

That is a stark indicator of the prevailing atmosphere in athletics at that time. Certainly in the 1930s running at the highest level was still considered quite a 'gentleman's' sport favoured by the Varsity types who could afford to travel.

Jack Winfield was undoubtedly a gentleman, but not of the University vintage which then counted for much. Selection boards tended to prefer runners with Oxbridge links, and money certainly spoke. But fortunately Jack had a selector-friend in the famous athlete Harold Abrahams - a former pupil at Repton School - who in choosing competitors for big events favoured sheer winning ability. On those grounds alone Jack Winfield readily earned his international selection.

He won countless medals and trophies from many countries. One of his most prized was the cup he won on the occasion he beat the world champion Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi (1897-1973). Despite his obvious class, Jack's take on his own success was quite a modest one: 'Often it wasn't really the 'best' runner who came in first. Usually tactics won the day - knowing when to put on that extra spurt, when to swing out to force opponents 'wide', how to fool a rival into thinking you had tired - they were all part of the race. I suppose on occasions I just got it right.'

Outside of racing Jack Winfield had the usual responsibilities - a family and a job.

In his twenties he had married the West Hallam girl Dorothy Harriet May Mee. The couple had a family and settled in West Hallam - they were together for over 50 years.

Jack was employed as an agent for Pearl Assurance, and also did a little 'on the side' work for Derby County Football Club, who engaged him in the early 1950s to help improve the players' fitness.

Nor did Jack give up running in his senior years. After the 'jogging craze' emerged in the 1970s he ran in local marathons with great success, and was often to be seen on training runs in Shipley Park - he continued to run six miles or so on most days well into his seventies. He finally hung up his 'serious' running shoes in 1982, a year in which he ran three half marathons at the age of 75!

His wife Dorothy died aged 78 in 1989, and Jack himself passed away aged 83 in January 1991.

Jack Winfield should be remembered as one of the foremost Derbyshire-born athletes of all time, and certainly one of the very best connected to Derby Athletics Club.

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County:  Derbyshire

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