Gareth Bryan-Jones

Steeplechaser Gareth Bryan-Jones was born during World War II while his father was serving in the Royal Artillery. Hailing from the Wirral, on Merseyside, Bryan-Jones went to Leeds University, and then Edinburgh University in 1965. He spent more than 45 years of his life in Scotland and chose to represent them internationally rather than the country of his birth, although he also had Welsh ancestry, and had represented them in the British Isles Cup in 1967.

Accepted as a an “Anglo”, Bryan-Jones was so highly regarded in running and orienteering circles “North of the Border” that he was simply known as Gareth – no surname was necessary. He won the Edinburgh-to-Glasgow road relay race six times between 1966-75.

Bryan-Jones took up steeplechasing while at Leeds University in 1964 and went on to win the British Universities title three years in succession, 1966-68. In the third of those years, he won his only AAA steeplechase title when he beat Maurice Herriott into third place and thus ended the run of seven successive titles by the 1964 Olympic champion. Gareth won the Scottish steeplechase title five times in 1968-71 and 1975, and competed at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and 1970 British Empire and Commonwealth Games on “home soil” at Edinburgh, when he narrowly missed a medal in fourth place. Bryan-Jones also won the national cross-country team prize with Edinburgh University and represented Scotland in the International Cross-Country Championships on three occasions.

After surviving a bad car accident in November 1972 Bryan-Jones recovered and, although he continued running for a while, it was around this time that he took up orienteering. He went on to win additional Scottish titles at his new sport and again represented Scotland and Great Britain. He continued running Masters events beyond the age of 60. By profession, Bryan-Jones was a microbiologist, and he later worked for Northern-Distillers, part of the Guinness Group.

Personal Best: 3000S – 8:33.8 (1970).