Alex Brearley

Alex Brearley took part in the inaugural folding kayak doubles 10,000 metres event at the 1936 Olympics with teammate John Dudderidge. It was the first overseas competition for the recently formed British Canoe Association, and Brearley and Dudderidge finished ninth. Brearley was originally pencilled in for the singles as well as the doubles, but only competed in the latter.

Brearley worked for an estate agent before establishing his own boatbuilding workshop close to the River Ouse at St. Neots, Cambdridgeshire. Sadly it was close to there that Brearley and his wife suffered personal tragedy in 1947 when their three-year-old son (and only child at the time) drowned.