Brian Adams (born 13 March 1949) is a male retired British

racewalker Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

from Leicester who worked as a coach in Sheffield.

Walking career

He won his first RWA Young Athletes Road Walk Championship in the Junior Men's category in 1969. Some of his career achievements include winning the RWA 50 Kilometres Road Walk Race in 1977 in Milton Keynes and winning the RWA Men's Long Distance Road Walk Championship in 1983, in which he completed 100 kilometres in 10:13:16. While he is best known for 20 kilometres, achieving his personal best of 1:27:46 in 1975, he won the 1984 Leicester RWA 100 miles in 17:39:28, beating long-distance specialists such as John Cannell from the Isle of Man. He came second in the RWA Men's 10 Miles Road Walk Championships in the years 1975 in Southwick, 1976 in York, 1978 in London and 1979 in York. He also won the AAA Championships 10000 metres Walk five years in a row from 1975. Adams competed in the men's 20 kilometres walk at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

, coming in 11th place with a time of 1:30:46. At these Olympics, he shared a room with

Paul Nihill Vincent Paul Nihill MBE (5 September 1939 – 15 December 2020) was a British race walker. Biography He competed in the 50 km event at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics, and won a silver medal in 1964. In 1968 he suffered from the high a ...

, who gave him the nickname "Bernie". He represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 30 kilometres walk event at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in

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Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

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, where he placed 4th with a time of 2:29:42.

Life after walking

After retiring from competing, Adams became a coach at City of Sheffield AC with a career lasting over 25 years, winning Yorkshire and Humberside Coach of the Year award in 2017. Adams now lives in Sheffield, where he is a trustee of a local Methodist Church and of the South Yorkshire Schools' Athletic Association, where he also serves as the Race Walking Secretary.

Personal life

In 1973, he married Joy Hollins and the couple have two sons together, Nathan and Simeon, and five grandchildren. He trained his son Nathan who went on to win the RWA Young Athletes Road Walk Championships in 1999 and the RWA's Men's 35 Kilometres Road Walk Championships in 2004. Adams is a Christian and is well known for his faith, signing with the phrase "Walk with Jesus" throughout his career.

References

1949 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games British male racewalkers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Sportspeople from Leicester Commonwealth Games competitors for England 20th-century British people {{UK-athletics-bio-stub