Rare photo of cross country legend presented to athletic club

A FRAMED photograph showing legendary cross-country runner Chris Vose has been presented to his former club – Warrington Athletic Club.
The athlete, who captained the Great Britain cross country team which gained a silver medal in the 1920 Olympics at Antwerp, died at his home in Grappenhall in August 1970 at the age of 83.
Over the years, there have been many events to honour Chris Vose, including a seven and-a-half road race instigated in 1961 which attracted many top athletes, including Ron Hill, the former European Championships and Commonwealth Games marathon gold medallist.
But there are few photographs of the man during his time with Warrington Athletic Club and the one presented to the club by former chairman Geoff Settle was damaged in a fire at the old wooden grandstand in Victoria Park many years ago.
Mr Settle chose to make the presentation at the last race in the Nev Jones Warrington Schools Cross Country League of 2019 in Walton Hall Park.
He said: “It had been rescued from the fire but was damaged. It was given to me by Dave Cotterill, Warrington Borough Council’s environment service manager, to see what I could do with it.
“I took it to the Picturesq Gallery in Latchford and they worked their magic to restore the photograph and set it in club colours.”
The picture shows the great man and other members of the 1920 Warrington Athletic Club cross country team
Chris Vose was born in Preston in 1887 but made Warrington his home and started running in races around the Wilderspool ground before matches.
His most famous achievement was captaining the silver medal Great Britain cross country team in the 1920 Olympics but he was also a member of five winning England teams in the International Cross Country Championships in 1911-13 and 1920-21, picking up an individual silver and five team golds.
Mr Settle believes a plaque honouring the athlete should be considered on the new grandstand in Victoria Park, with the framed photograph inside.
Pictured: Mr Settle presented the photograph to Warrington Athletic Club members.