Ralph Rowbotham

RALPH Rowbotham, who has died aged 74 following a heart attack while on his routine twice-weekly 40-mile cycle ride with friends, was one of the most influential and prominent figures on the athletics scene in South Yorkshire.

The middle of three brothers, their father a Rotherham steelworker, Ralph went to Park Street School where he developed as a sprinter over 110 and 220 yards.

By the time he left school at 16 to follow his father into the steel industry, he was running with the Rotherham Harriers and winning medals in individual sprinting events and the relay in the County Championships.

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Then came National Service which saw him posted to Singapore, and the hallmark of his character now became evident: Ralph was a man who seized every opportunity which life offered.

In the Army, those opportunities included playing rugby, running and developing a taste for foreign travel. In later years he would say that he did his best to make the best of a bad job.

Returning to Rotherham, he went back in to the steel industry, and in 1962 met Patricia Foster, a farmer's daughter, at the Mecca Dance Hall in Sheffield. They married the following year.

He resumed his association with the Harriers, and for 30 years was club secretary – and much, much more.

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Every Monday and Wednesday evening he could be found at the Herringthorpe stadium track – a few minutes' walk from his home – coaching young athletes. Hurdling was his speciality, and the Olympian hurdler Chris Rawlinson has good reason to be glad of it.

Other Harriers whose talents he helped bring on include the Olympians Alan Simpson, Angela Creamer and Peter Elliott, a silver medallist at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

He was behind the Borough Sports which one year had the participation of Sebastian Coe, and he played a major part in the formation of the South Yorkshire County Athletic Association which replaced the old district format of the Northern Counties.

When there was a major strike at the British Steel works in 1980, Ralph typically made the most of another bad job, this time planning the route for a 44-mile Round Rotherham event.

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He worked it out on maps, following the boundary as closely as possible, and then checked its feasibility in stages on the ground until the route was complete. Finally, over the Christmas holiday, he set out to do it on foot, his family meeting him at pre-arranged points to deliver hot food and drinks. It took him about 15 hours.

Extended to 50 miles – an officially-recognised distance – it is now in its 29th year, the 2010 event scheduled for October 16, when more than 400 competitors from all over the UK are expected to take part.

Up until about five years ago – and for a period of about 40 years – Ralph organised open meetings at the Herringthorpe stadium. This year he told Pat he was going to have one more go, just to get the youngsters involved again, and it was held in August, attracting some 200 competitors aged from eight to over 50.

Although a sprinter, Ralph did take up marathon running when he was in his 40s, but perhaps more as an excuse to travel than to run 26 miles; he ran them in New York, Paris, Rotterdam, Greece – the original Marathon – and London.

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He took early retirement in his early 50s, and developed the part-time business he had already started in response to the need for someone in South Yorkshire to engrave sporting trophies.

He was still at it up until his death following his collapse in the village of Laughton, near Doncaster.

He is survived by his wife Pat, their daughter Kim and son Stephen, three granddaughters, and grandson and his brothers Robert and Roger.