At the age of 76, Norman Poole (Applied Physics, 1970, Bowland) runs for 30 minutes three times a week, as well as powering his way through up to three weight-training sessions, to keep himself fit for the two nights a week and Saturday mornings as he coaches potential Olympic middle-distance track athletes from all over the North West.

The nationally recognised, Manchester-based endurance coach has contributed to the careers of high-profile runners like Steve Cram and Kelly Holmes during the seven years he spent as the UK National Event Coach in 800m and 1500m. He has also accompanied several of his personal athletes including Diane Modhal, Mike Rimmer and Craig Winrow to compete in various Olympics and World Championships over 40 years - until recently balancing it against day jobs in technical product design and physics.

His physics and physical balancing act started at Lancaster University in 1967, when Norman (previously sixth in the all-England schools senior cross country) began his undergraduate studies in Applied Physics. The North Manchester Grammar pupil had chosen Lancaster because it had one of the few physics departments in the country at the time, was not far from Manchester and had a strong sports presence.

He thoroughly enjoyed his time there, and says: ”For me Lancaster offered me a good social life and sport, alongside a thorough and enjoyable academic grounding.”

When he left he was able to benefit from Lancaster’s links with industry. On recommendation from a visiting professor, Sir Derek Roberts from Plessey, he obtained a research job at the same company. He went on to set up his two businesses - one in alarms and the other in the design and manufacture of specialist lighting - all the time coaching some of the UK’s most talented runners including as the UK’s National event coach for the 800m and 1500m in the 1980s and 1990s.

The quietly confident teenager who arrived at Bowland as a ‘fresher’ easily found his feet on the small campus. He remembers his first week making the most of gatherings of clubs and societies, and immediately joined the athletics and cross country societies, which formed the bedrock of his social life.

He was following advice given by his own coach, which he shares with the youngsters he coaches as they go to university: “Make as many friends on the first week as you can - they are the ones you are likely to keep for the whole of your time at university. So it’s very inspiring.”

Norman laughs as he remembers how ‘mind blowing’ he and his fellow physics students found Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, because it gave a working formula for understanding how the world worked. "We'd sit there with a cuppa discussing it!" he muses.

Academically, Norman says he ‘ticked along’ enjoying most of his courses, but he enjoyed the research best of all. However, a bad bout of glandular fever in his last year which led to his missing a whole term, meaning he had to ‘work his socks off’ to pass his exams.

In parallel with his undergraduate studies Norman also had his athletics life. He’d rush 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 his 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.

He retired from business, in order to concentrate on sport and writing. His first book for coaches and seniors 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 comes down to Manchester as many as three times a week - which is what Norman often did as a student. Nowadays though, it’s Norman controlling the stopwatch and preparing training schedules, rather than pounding the track himself.