Birchfield Harriers has a long tradition of European Championship medallists. With the upcoming edition of the Championships taking place at Birchfield’s home, Alexander Stadium, this lineage looks set to continue.
The 2026 European Athletics Championships will take place in Birmingham this August, hosted at Alexander Stadium, home of Birchfield Harriers.
Birchfield Harriers have been in existence since 1877, making then one of the 10 oldest continuously operating athletics clubs in England, and the first in the Midlands. As the name suggests, Birchfield was originally a harriers club focusing on cross-country and steeplechase and operating from the Birchfield area of Birmingham. The club purchased a piece of land at Perry Barr in the 1920s to grow its track and field sections, naming it the Alexander Sports Field after influential club member and cross-country runner William Whiteway (Alec) Alexander. Alexander was Club Secretary in the 1880s and remained central to Birchfield Harriers for decades, guiding the club and pushing to provide a women’s section as well as a men’s in the 1920s – very early in the history of women’s athletics. The stadium which now stands on the site and at which Birchfield are based still bears his name.
The European Athletics Championships have been contested every four years since their inaugural edition in Turin in 1934, excepting the years of the Second World War and a brief anomaly in 1969/71. From Barcelona 2010, the Championships have been a biennial event, although 2020 was missed due to the Covid pandemic. Apart from 1934, Birchfield athletes have represented Team GB at every single European Championships, medalling at almost all of them – 1950, ‘66, ‘74 and ‘78 were lean years. In total to date, Birchfield has 54 medals – 21 gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze – for context, if Birchfield were a country, they would currently rank 15th on the European all time medal table. Who knows where the 2026 Championships will leave them.
Here are a few Birchfield names, and their achievements at European Athletics Championships
- Ashia Hansen triple Jump gold, 2002
- Berwyn Jones 4x100m bronze, 1962
- Carole Quinton 4x100m silver, 1958
- Daniel Caines 400m bronze and 4x400m relay gold, 2002
- Danny Talbot 200m bronze, 2012; 4x100m gold, 2014; 200m bronze, 2016
- Daphne Arden 4x100m bronze, 1962
- Derek Redmond 4x400m gold, 1986
- Diane Leather 800m silver, 1954 & 1958
- Du’aine Thorn-Ladejo 400m and 4x400m gold, 1994
- Elliot Giles 800m bronze, 2016
- Godfrey Brown 400m gold, 4x400m silver, and 4x100m bronze, 1938
- Ian Stewart 5000m gold, 1969
- Jarryd Dunn 4x400m bronze, 2016 (semi-final)
- John Salisbury 400m silver and 4x400m gold, 1958
- John Sherwood 400m hurdles silver, 1969
- Judy (Levermore) Simpson heptathlon bronze, 1986
- Julian Reid triple jump bronze, 2016
- Kath Merry 4x400m bronze, 1998
- Luke Lennon Ford 4x400m silver, 2012 (semi-final)
- Mark Lewis Francis 4x100m gold, 2006; 100m silver, 2010
- Matt Hudson Smith 400m silver & 4x400m gold, 2014; 4x400m bronze, 2016; 400m gold & 4x400m silver, 2018; 400m gold & 4x400m gold, 2022
- Michael Bingham 400m & 4x400m silver, 2010; 4x400m silver, 2012 (semi-final); 4x400m gold, 2014
- Mike Rawson 800m gold, 1958
- Pat Lowe 800m silver, 1971
- Peter Radford 100m bronze and 4×100 silver, 1958
- Phil Brown 4x400m silver, 1982; 4x400m gold, 1986 & 1990 (semi-final)
- Rio Mitcham 4x400m gold, 2022 (semi-final)
- Robbie Brightwell 400m gold and 4x400m silver, 1962
- Shara Proctor long jump bronze, 2018
- Winifred Jordan 100m & 200m silver, 1946
With thanks to Stuart Paul, Birchfield Harriers.
For information about Birchfield Harriers please visit the club’s website.
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