Leo Carroll 1939-2016
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Dr Leo Carroll who passed away peacefully over the weekend following a short illness.
Leo was the current Northern Athletics President and proudly carried out his duties at all this year’s Championships. The honour was in recognition of his long standing work and commitment to athletics, for his work with his club, Wirral AC, with the local leagues, Merseyside County AA and with the North of England.
He was a lovely man and his considerable academic background was a great asset to our sport. He was of course a talented athlete and only recently he recalled his post graduate time at Harvard in the States during the 1960s when he not only ran fast times indoors over there but excelled in the Boston Marathon.
Leo was educated at St Anselm’s College in Birkenhead and went onto further study at Liverpool University followed by a post graduate degree at Harvard University in Boston. Returning to Liverpool he became a Senior Staff Lecturer in Small Particle Physics, Leo also worked with CERN (the European Nuclear Research Agency) on the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.
His athletics CV began in 1955 when he joined Wirral AC where he soon showed his talent as a Road and Cross Country runner, even winning an international vest for the Marathon. His achievements included victory in the 1969 Huddersfield Marathon in a time of 2:17.12, and third place behind Juan Taylor and Bill Adcocks at the 1965 Inter County 20 mile Championship.
Leo became Club Secretary at Wirral in 1981 and his other administrative roles included the Presidency of the Liverpool & District Cross Country Assoc. for over 30 years. He also served as ECCA President and was the current President of Northern Athletics. In addition he was a dedicated Endurance official who had helped to organise the infamous Women’s National Cross Country in 1985 at Arrowe Park when the event was invaded by anti-apartheid protestors objecting to the presence of Zola Budd. I am sure that Leo dealt with that incident in his habitual calm and intelligent way.
Leo will be missed and remembered by all of us and our condolences go to his family and close friends.
Funeral Details
Thursday 7th July at 11am at Landican Crematorium Arrowe Park Rd, Wirral CH49 5LW
Dr Leo Carroll receives his president’s chain of office from retiring president Jean Simpson MBE
Leo Carroll was one of the sport’s gentlemen. I had the pleasure of working with him over many years and was part of the organising Committee when Wirral A C staged the National Cross Country Championships at Arrowe Park. His chairmanship of the Committee was outstanding, leaving nothing to chance and delivered with a firmness that was compelling.
Leo was unique inasmuch as whenever we disagreed (and I have been known to disagree with people) I still held him in the highest regard for his calm, unruffled, approach which demanded by sheer force of intellect complete respect for his argument. Leo was someone for whom the word ‘malice’ never existed.
I’m sure he will be missed by not only by his colleagues at Wirral A C but by all those who came into contact with him. May he rest in peace
Leo was elected Northern Athletics President for this year and proudly carried out his duties at all the Championships committing himself fully to the role. The honour was in recognition of his long standing work and commitment to athletics, for his work with his Club,Wirral AC, with the local leagues, his County and with the North of England.
He was a lovely man and his considerable academic background was a great asset to our sport. He was of course a talented athlete and only recently he recalled his post graduate time at Harvard in the States during the 1960s when he not only ran fast times indoors over there but excelled in the Boston Marathon.
Leo will be missed by all of us and my condolences go to his family and close friends.
I`m truly shocked. Like many others I took Leo`s permanence for granted. I great blow not only to his club but to the wider athletic fraternity. I always envied his quiet, unruffled demeanour and clarity of thinking. His contributions are numerous but I valued his loyalty to the Liverpool and District Cross Country Union, his meticulous record keeping and joyful early history. He will be greatly missed.
It was very sad news to hear about Leo. He will be sadly missed not only by his club, the county association and Northern Athletics but also all who knew him.
It was with great sadness that I heard of Leo`s passing. Leo and I go back a long way, in fact to schooldays from 1956-58, he at St Anselm`s and I at St Mary`s College. He always beat me then, and for ever after. We were colleagues in the Liverpool University team from 1958-62, after which Leo became one of our best marathon runners. When we both retired from competition we found ourselves on various committees on Merseyside and the North of England where his expertise in designing cross country courses and meticulous organising ability meant he was in constant demand to stage county and area championships. All this was in addition to his devotion to Wirral AC. I will miss him as a long standing friend, adviser and organiser. May he rest in peace.
Throughout the 40+ years of knowing Leo, nothing changed at Wirral AC in particular without Leo’s blessing in one form or another. Not because he demanded it (he would have hated the thought of that), but because such was the level of respect that others held for him, people always sought his advice and blessing for change to occur. Always the gentleman and mild mannered (though there was the odd occasion when something annoyed him!) his athletic achievements portrayed a ruthlessness at odds with his personality when not running. Though I never had the benefit of training with him until he was quite a few years past his best, even into his early years of the vets age group, he could still ‘drag the guts’ out of us youngsters when the mood took him during the ‘Tuesday night burn up’ at the club! Leo, it was a privilege to know you, thanks for the advice and guidance and especially all that you did for local athletics.
Leo’s contribution to athletics was immeasurable over many years, first as an athlete and later as a diligent team man on committees. His work on committees at local, area and national level was significant. I had the privilege of working closely with Leo over the last 25 years on Liverpool & District Cross Country Union he was efficient in his organisation and his record keeping was first class.
Leo set very high standards, he will be missed.
I really can’t add much more to what has already been said about Leo except that it was a pleasure to know him and to run against him ,a true gentleman and a ‘gentle man’ his contribution to Merseyside athletics was beyond considerable.He will be sorely missed.
I was sad to hear of Leo’s passing. He and I had some close races when I was at Sheffield University and he at Liverpool around 1960-62. He was tenacious and determined then but more so later when he tackled the marathon with considerable success. I knew he was a highly rated academic but did not know he had been involved with the CERN project. He will be much missed on Merseyside but also by the wider athletics community
Didn’t know Leo as closely as others but before moving to London and during that time when back up home, remember frequenting some of the club training runs and his stamina was amazing for his age. Over the past 10-15 years whilst being involved at the club through my daughter and now coaching, he was always very supportive and lived and breathed athletics and Wirral AC. Still can’t believe he’s not here and he didn’t deserve to be taken so early, will be greatly missed.