On caster


In parallel with his undergraduate studies Norman also had his athletics life. He’d go down to Manchester for athletics training and competitions and won a bronze medal in the England Universities 5k Championships in 1969. He competed for the University during his first two years at Lancaster but was prevented by glandular fever in his last year from competing in the Roses competition.


“Lancaster gave me a good grounding in research work, in writing up research findings and in all the fundamentals of physics study. I was not a good student,” he admits, “And I could have been - but that came later.” Norman gained a PhD whilst he was a research fellow at Salford University in 1977, but admits, “Athletics sometimes took precedence.”


He feels his busy undergraduate years developed invaluable skills of self discipline and organisation, which he’s incorporated into building a busy


and successful career alongside the coaching. He recently found his training diaries from his Lancaster years and was amazed by their detail.


His health setback in his final year also taught him invaluable lessons he applied when he was struck down by the autoimmune disease Lyme Disease in 1972 after a visit to Scandinavia. This finished his running career and put him on sticks for five years. But he learned to walk again and made his way back on track as a senior coach at Sale Harriers and has spent the past 35 years developing the British Milers Club (BMC), becoming Chairman and now its President.


“That took determination,” he emphasises. He’s also needed that quality to build his technical lighting business, Hilclare, through dozens of trips to China between 1992 and 2019 to source materials for housings and other components that were prohibitively expensive in the UK.


NORMAN POOLE | GRADUATED: 1970 DEGREE | APPLIED PHYSICS COLLEGE | BOWLAND


PROFESSION | HIGH PERFORMANCE ENDURANCE COACH AND AUTHOR


He retired from business in order to concentrate on sport and writing. His first book for coaches and senior athletes - ‘Progressive Training for the UK Middle-Distance Track Events’ - was published last year, and he is currently working on a second volume aimed at supporting coaches of younger teenage athletes.


Lancaster University is never far from his life, however. He is currently coaching Lancaster PhD student Andrew Milligan - who goes to Manchester as many as three times a week - which is what Norman often did as a Lancaster student. Nowadays though, it’s Norman controlling the stopwatch and preparing training schedules, rather than pounding the track himself.


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