Former Journal and Evening Chronicle writer, club founder and English Cross Country Association president remembered as ‘a true man of the people'.

Bill McGuirk, the long-time athletics official and Athletics Weekly contributor from the North East of England, has died aged 85 on Friday (Oct 9) after a career in the sport spanning more than 60 years.

An athlete, coach, official, administrator and writer, McGuirk was a familiar and much-loved figure at events from the Tweed to the Tees and beyond. Few people did more for the sport in the region.

At the UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships, we would often see McGuirk, who had travelled down with the North East team. He would greet AW reporters with a big smile and his very particular way of saying hello: “Wayaaay, ye bugger!” It was impossible not to smile back.

Before he became a respected voice in the media, McGuirk was a talented runner. Representing Saltwell Harriers, he won a host of championship medals and clocked 1:53.8 for 880 yards, although his career was cut short by injury when he was barely into his 20s.

According to John Gibson, the former Newcastle Chronicle sports editor who worked alongside him for many years, McGuirk once raced the great Peter Snell at Gateshead. He had to take time off work at the newspaper to get there and rushed straight back afterwards. “His moment of glory,” Gibson recalled, “was leading Snell for the first lap.”

McGuirk went on to become the Chronicle’s athletics correspondent, writing for The Journal and the Evening Chronicle. Gibson, who described him as a member of the team with “unquenchable enthusiasm and boundless energy”, said he was always ready to champion grass-roots athletes as well as the North East’s stars.

Gibson called him “a true man of the people” and said he could be guaranteed to be at an athletics event whatever the weather. McGuirk left the newspaper in 2002 but continued as its athletics columnist for many more years.

In the 1970s he had a dream of developing a club in Wallsend, which had fallen on difficult times after the Second World War and disbanded. Thanks to his enthusiasm and organisational skills, it was re-born in 1975. McGuirk then developed into a coach, became England cross-country team manager and held countless positions in North East athletics.

His service to the sport was recognised in 2008 when Newcastle Council presented him with an Unsung Hero award, followed by a Service to Athletics award from the England Athletics Regional Council.

The pinnacle came in 2016 when he became president of the English Cross Country Association. He was only the eighth person from the North Eastern Counties to hold the position in the association’s 140-year history.