David Sprason
Dave joined the club from school where his teacher John Cooper, was also a coach at Birchfield. John Cooper was an Olympic medallist so greatly inspired Dave to become a Birchfield Harrier. Dave achieved modest success as an athlete and was a valuable team member on track, road and cross country. His brother Martin also ran for the club at the time.
He became involved in the Club’s administration, serving on Committee, a spell as Club Secretary and various other roles including being a technical official, mostly as a track judge, but then as a timekeeper. He officiated at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and was selected as Call Room Referee for London 2012, which unfortunately he had to miss due to work commitments.
Dave was a Birchfield member for nearly 50 years, he was awarded Life Membership for his service to the Club, something he was very proud of. He was a regular club supporter at league meetings, judging, timekeeping, acting as meeting manager. He will be difficult to replace, and we will miss his dry sense of humour and boundless enthusiasm for the club to prosper.