How it Began

Barnsley Road Runners was formed in 1974 by three runners; Dave Bennett, Johnny Kennedy and Paul Midwood. Former members of Rockingham AC and Rotherham Harriers, they had the desire for Barnsley to have its own distinct running club. Right from the start, they put Barnsley on the running map, organising the hugely successful Barnsley 6, the first mass road race to attract over one hundred runners and the first to allow women to compete over the same distance as men. Later the same year, they organised another race that was to become an important fixture in the national running calendar, the Barnsley Marathon. Those races attracted hundreds of athletes from around Britain and abroad, as well as encouraging thousands of people in the Barnsley area to take up running as a means of getting fit, completing a personal challenge, and for some going on to compete for local clubs. In them can be seen the twin pillars of the philosophy which holds true in the club to this day; attracting as wide a participation as possible in the sport we love, alongside a desire to improve and learn from the best. The races were extensively reported in the Barnsley Chronicle, and as this account of our history unfolds, you will be able to discover for the first time, or possibly in the case of older members to rediscover, our roots and what made us into the club we are today.

Archived Articles

John Broom looked through the club archives and will be scanning articles of interest for inclusion in this section. Watch this space for more reports, Dave Allemby also has a wealth of articles and documents which will be added.