Former world cross country champion and European medallist
Rivals gave Roy Fowler the nickname the Red Fox because of his hair colour ... having pursued him in vain across Britain, Europe and beyond.
Mr Fowler, who died aged 75, was a former world cross country champion and European 10,000m bronze medallist.
He also won a bronze medal in the six-mile race at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia, in 1962.
He only became an athlete after overcoming childhood illness with the determination which was to define his career.
Born in Longsdon in March 1934, he grew up in Leek in Staffordshire where his early life was plagued by regular, and occasionally life-threatening, bouts of pneumonia.
He took up running to strengthen his lungs and heart, having been encouraged by his doctor, Dr Dyson, and Trevor Harvey, who was deputy head of the County Secondary Modern School.
Mr Fowler became a fine all-round sportsman at school, but excelled at cross country running and won his first school race, aged 14, in 1948.
He would represent England 38 times in track and cross-country events. But his ...
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