What can be said about Ian Barnes that hasn’t been written before. Ian who didn’t start running until his 40’s and still running into his 80’s was crowned European Indoor 1500m champion as V60, competed in World Championships, represented England broke national records (2 of which he still holds of time of writing November 2017) and represented Northumberland and Durham over many years. Above this Ian broke many club records at different age levels some of which stand today, has been club Chair/Vice Chair amongst his many roles as well as being a genuinely nice guy. The Ian Barnes Award was introduced in 2015 to award both male and female runners with the best age grading performance for the season.
Here’s a tiny snippet of some of Ian’s achievements
Year Distance Detail
1956 880yards Short limit handicap at Feethams Darlington 4th in a time of 2m2.3 seconds . Winner Derek Johnson who went on to win an Olympic silver medal at the Melbourne Games/
1958 880 yards Northumberland and Durham (N&D) T&F championships 3rd 1m 59secs.
1961 mile N&D championships 2nd time 4m22.3 secs. Also 4th in 880 yards 1min 57.7 seconds/
1963 3mile N&D Championships 4th time unknown but below 15 minutes.
1963 Represented N&D in the Inter counties championships XC at Reading . 5th counter out of our team of 5
1966 2mile Indoor open at RAF Leeming . 2nd in time of 9m18.1secs. (ahead of Yorkshire 3&6 Mile Champion)
1967 One mile One off race at Billingham Synthonia prior to soccer match time 4m 16.6 seconds position 2nd.
1984 Member of NE Veterans AA. For results please refer to the NEMAA website where the records Ian achieved (listed in the Statistics and Archives sections)
1997 1500m European indoor championships 1st M60 4m 52secs,
1999 1500m World championships at Gateshead 10th M60 4.52
1986-2004 Competed in the national Track Championships from 1986 to 2004. Wins in various age groups.
2016 3000m Broke national V80 record
2017 1 mile Broke national V80 record
2021 1 mile Broke national V85 record
Here are some of Ian’s records (Sue Phillips also amongst these records, another superb club runner who has represented England).
800m
M55 I Barnes Darlington 2:11.7 1990
M60 I Barnes Darlington 2:19.5 1995
M65 I Barnes Darlington 2:26.7 2001
M70 I Barnes Darlington 2:46.5 2008
M75 I Barnes Darlington 3:09.7 2010
M80 I Barnes Darlington 3:38.6 2017
1500m
M60 I Barnes Darlington 4.36.1 1995
M65 I Barnes Darlington 4.59.3 2001
M75 I Barnes Darlington 6.11.8 2008
M80 I Barnes Darlington 7.07.0 2017
1 Mile
M75 I Barnes Darlington 6.47.9 2014
M85 I Barnes Darlington 8.10.4 2020
3000m
M60 I Barnes Darlington 10.17.1 1995
M65 I Barnes Darlington 11.01.3 2000
M75 I Barnes Darlington 13.40.8 2014
M80 I Barnes Darlington 14.37.6 2016
5000m
M65 I Barnes Darlington 19.14.3 2002
10000m
M65 I Barnes Darlington 39.29.4 2002