Newyddion

27/08/2024 00:00, I Mewn Blog /

Pictured above: Back row left to right: Alun James, Hayden Curren, Gwynne Griffiths, Vince James and John Bradshaw.  Front row left to right: Fred Bell, Terry Davies & Mike Walters

The late John Bradshaw – an appreciation by Carmarthen club stalwarts Hedydd Davies and Vince James.

Welsh Athletics and Carmarthen Harriers are very sad to report the death of John Bradshaw, aged 76, on 23 August 2024.

He was a fine athlete as well as an outstanding Carmarthen team member, coach, team manager and administrator.

Said Carmarthen President Hedydd Davies: “This is a tremendous shock. I last saw him earlier this year at the SIAB schools international in Carmarthen. We talked about the good old amateur days in the 1980’s and 1990’s when the Carmarthen track was a cinder track and had no floodlights unlike today.”

John was an exceptional club sprints coach and coached many young athletes to win Welsh sprint championships and gain international honours. He would often go out of his way to collect athletes from their homes and take them for training at the Carmarthen Track.

He was an excellent team manager of Carmarthen Harriers girls’ teams and Dyfed schools’ athletics teams at Welsh schools athletics championships.

John was particularly pleased with the athletics success of his daughter Sian. She won many Welsh sprint titles and competed for Wales and Welsh schools in international matches. In 1992 she set the Dyfed schools middle schools championship 200m record of 25.2. It remained the record until this year when it was broken by Darcy Coslett of Bryngwyn School. John was also delighted when his grandson, Noah, won the under 15 Welsh 800m title earlier this year.

In John’s younger days he was an outstanding athlete and rugby player, becoming Welsh Schools’ 100 yards champion in 1965 and a leading member of the all-conquering Carmarthen Harriers relay teams.

Said club colleague Vince James: “John’s relay running skills contributed hugely to any relay team he was part of, much like Terry Davies, the Commonwealth Games sprinter. The knowledge John gained as an athlete he passed on to the athletes he coached. His passing is a shock to us all.”

John was born in Laugharne where his father was Headmaster of the local primary school. A former pupil at Whitland Grammar School, he went on to study at Cardiff University and after a period away returned to live in Laugharne. He became a pillar of the local community becoming in turn Mayor and Portreeve of the town, as was his father before him. He was also a leading member of Laugharne Players and was particularly sad when due to illness he had to pull out of a production just weeks before he died.

He wrote an excellent article for the book written by Hedydd Davis Memories of Carmarthen Harriers 1948-2023:

“The thing about Carmarthen Harriers was that it was a very close knit team; coaches, team managers, club management, teachers, volunteer parents, those who made the tea, those who judged field and track events and so on. It was a model of co-operation. I owe a huge amount to athletics. I have experienced highs and lows. Highs such as being there when my daughter Sian won Welsh championships, alongside other athletes I coached. Lows as an athlete, when I pulled my hamstring in my final year in school when I was the defending Welsh champion. One of the things sports teaches you is to take the rough with the smooth.”

The Welsh athletics fraternity and all at Carmarthen Harriers send their condolences to his wife Janet and family at this sad time.