FRANK CORBETT
24 February 1939 – 03 June 2025
It’s an absolute privilege to write for Bromsgrove & Redditch Athletic Club and acknowledge the contribution Frank made to my early running career and our local running club.
My memory I’m sure, like that of a lot of athletes from the 1980’s is that it was a special time in our lives at B&R. I’m not sure exactly how I ended up under Frank’s guidance and becoming the recipient of one of his sought after A4 lined handwritten monthly training schedules. Makes me smile now when I think how each of us had the exact same schedule photocopied and handed out to each of us at the beginning of each month!
How did Frank end up becoming a coach in Redditch and at B&R? No idea. I just took him for granted and he was there every Tuesday and Thursday and on the start line race day. Maybe it was Gary and Neil, his two sons, who were exceptional athletes at the time and winning races which new recruits like me wanted to emulate. Whatever the reason, I’m so glad men and women like Frank were turning up each week to encourage each of us to train hard and get the best out of ourselves.
Tuesday and Thursday track nights in the summer hurtling around or in one of Redditch’s new car parks in the winter when it was snowing or raining outside. All clever initiatives implemented by Frank. Crazy times and a bit mad especially getting us to run around the car park internal staircases far too many times until you wanted to vomit. I and many others thrived in the training environment he created. We all ran hard but the humour and camaraderie with Frank as our leader just worked. Our teams started winning and having an impact within the Midlands running community and pulling on the red and two blue striped running vest gave us status during competition and the ones to watch. Other athletes started turning up from further afield to join in. Everyone was welcome.
Why had we become a force to be reckoned with in team competition? It was all Frank, and now I’m older and wiser I realise his huge contribution to our winning team, our competitive streak and our consistency in everything we did, instilled by him and maybe through osmosis instilled in each of us each week.
How could hard work be so much fun? First the warm up to the car park and with Frank’s legendary upright high knee lift running action. Then the gut retching session starting under Frank’s watchful eye and his hand-held stopwatch timing the session before the run back all together to Abbey Stadium. Once back, the communal showers and what a laugh (thank you Ian Keyte), followed by a visit to the bar which took up the whole of the top floor of the Sports centre, and with a pint of larger in hand, Frank was still our conductor encouraging banter and laughs – friendships being forged for life. Thank you, Frank.
I had so much love for you Frank. Thanks for being my mentor and the sound advice beyond athletics and helping me navigate growing up as a teenager – always available to talk and away from the track if necessary. Thanks, Frank, believing anything was possible and for your calmness during stressful competitions, something I will always be eternally grateful for. A wonderful grounding for my professional athletics career. Thanks for your modesty as well.
One final note which I think sums up Frank and his approach to life and living in the moment. During his final chapter of life in Spain, all his new friends had no idea of his contribution and love of athletics. Gary and Neil had to explain at his wake to his new friends in Spain of his huge contribution to Bromsgrove & Redditch and the many runners, like me, who benefited from his quiet modest persona. I’ll miss that grin and his ability to not to take himself too seriously and for the rest of us not to take ourselves too seriously but of course not to be a stupid! Thanks too for the humour – maybe we should run one last time, in your honour, your legendary pub crawl around Redditch at Christmas time, running in-between each pub, a stupid idea at the best of times, but one everyone from the club signed up to with his encouragement.
What an entrance we all must have made. Anyway, Ian Keyte will organise the 2025 event.
Love you Frank.
CHEERS you special man.
Adrian Passey
xx