THE BIG INTERVIEW BARRIE WELLS @ATHLETICSWEEKLY

N 2008 Barrie Wells was sitting in the Bird’s Nest stadium in watching the Olympic Games and had an idea. After Imaking millions selling insurance The most generous businesses, the money was burning a hole in his pocket. Donating it to international charities was a possibility. Yet what really excited him was the idea of bolstering the man in the sport chances of British Olympic hopes in the run-up to 2012. “I told my son, who I was sitting BRITISH MILLIONAIRE BUSINESSMAN AND ATHLETICS FAN BARRIE WELLS HAS HELPED next to, that I was going to give a lot JESSICA ENNIS-HILL, KATARINA JOHNSON-THOMPSON AND OTHERS REACH THEIR of his inheritance away to athletes,” POTENTIAL WITH HIS SPONSORSHIP AND SUPPORT. JASON HENDERSON MEETS THE says Wells, “and he thought it was MOST GENEROUS MAN IN ATHLETICS a great idea!” After Beijing, Wells set about surely been the sport’s biggest identifying people from various benefactor in the last decade or so. Olympic sports to help, which Social distancing is only just included, among others, Katarina starting to kick in across the Johnson-Thompson and Jessica country, although soon after my visit Ennis-Hill. In total he spent about Wells’ office will, like many others, £2 million helping them realise temporarily close. So I am lucky to their ambitions, effectively turning get my interview with him in before him into one of the biggest unsung the national shutdown begins. heroes in British athletics as the On one side of his office are athletes won global titles. framed photographs of the many I meet Wells at the offices of his athletes he has helped, such as Barrie Wells Trust in Lancaster. I KJT, Ennis-Hill, Jenny Meadows, Dai have bumped into him a few times Greene, Holly Bradshaw, Steph Twell, briefly on the athletics circuit over Mike Rimmer and Jodie Williams, the years and we had exchanged plus those from other sports such Quarter-miler: emails a few times but I was keen as gymnast Beth Tweddle. On the Barrie Wells (left) to get to know a man who has other side of the room are photos takes the baton of his brilliant Box4Kids scheme, where seriously ill or, in some cases, terminally ill children enjoy VIP treatment in a special box at sporting events like the Anniversary Games in London or football matches at Anfield – the home of his beloved Liverpool FC. In total I spend a fascinating am going to give this to athletes as explain what I was going to do there “She recommended different four or five hours with him and it it is the sport I understand. In that was no real enthusiasm for it.” sports to me like swimming, could easily have been twice as stadium in Beijing, I thought ‘London He jokes: “I thought they might triathlon, etc., although British long. As I discover, he knows his is in 2012, I love athletics and I can have sent a car to my house and Cycling didn’t really need my athletics history and statistics get involved and if I sponsor picked me up straight away to talk money and it was an idea which better than I do, whereas the story athletes I can go and watch them about it. But they didn’t. So I then was foreign to their culture, of how he came to fund athletes is train and be on their journey.” wondered ‘what do I do next?’” although my discussions with a remarkable tale of generosity and Having a couple of million He continues: “I still wanted to do them were all very amicable. philanthropy. pounds to give to athletes is not it, though, so I went to see Baroness “I then saw Niels de Vos (UKA Before the Beijing Games he had an everyday occurrence, though, Sue Campbell, who was the chair at chief executive at the time) and toyed with the idea of sponsoring and initially he had trouble actually UK Sport, the organisation that did went in with my list of athletes and Katarina Johnson-Thompson (top) with athletes but says of the moment in trying to give it away. “I found it the (official) funding for all the sport. showed him the ones I wanted to benefactor Barrie Wells; at a Box4Kids event (above); and Wells at Newmarket the Bird’s Nest: “That was when it hard to engage at the time with UK And she saw me right away with no sponsor and he asked if I wanted racecourse with Box4Kids families (right) came together for me. I thought I Athletics,” he says. “When I wrote to messing. any input but I told him I knew who

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Wells never tried Box4Kids – a winning idea himself, although ironically one of WHEN Barrie Wells bought a spectators’ his funded athletes was UK record- box at Anfield in 2010 for seriously ill holder Bradshaw. As a sprinter, children to enjoy a VIP day watching though, he ran 4x400m at the AAA Liverpool FC, he had no idea how Championships and competed at much it would grow. His Box4Kids the famous White City stadium. concept is now at around 200 venues Later, he made a comeback as with Premier League football grounds, an over-40 veteran athlete while racecourses and entertainment living and working in Singapore venues like the O2 Arena being from 1979-86. “It was beautifully among the places used. Hip hop group warm with a great climate and An annual box at Anfield costs around Rak-Su with ideal for training,” he remembers. Barrie Wells “Someone suggested that I took £80,000 but Wells has generated such goodwill (top left) and with his scheme that he finds people now Box4Kids children up athletics again and come back donate boxes to him. UK Athletics, for example, as a master. So I did and despite provide a box at the Anniversary Games at the London Stadium WHAT THEY SAY: weighing 19kg more and being so , 2011 world 400m hurdles champion: and on one memorable occasion Niels de Vos from the many years older I only ran two “Barrie started helping me long ago and helped me seconds slower and clocked 52 governing body took the children into the bowels of the stadium with accommodation costs as I moved from seconds as a 42-year-old.” to meet . to Bath to be with a different coach. I would do school He even travelled back to the UK “He told the kids they had a surprise,” says Wells. “We went appearances in return and got the opportunity to underneath in the stadium and we saw Usain Bolt. It was introduce lots of students to hurdling, which was great. to have a tilt at the British Masters hilarious as Bolt pretended to ignore the kids on purpose but “Barrie is probably the most enthusiastic and Championships and was narrowly then quickly turned around and surprised them with a huge optimistic supporter of athletics that I know. He beaten after going off too slow. smile, which was a really nice moment.” Barrie Wells with his original group of is always there to follow the athletes that he has But he won Asian masters sprints sponsored athletes, including Jessica supported. It’s a rare thing to get someone who loves to titles and then made another mini- Wells’ team in Lancaster work hard to provide more children Ennis-Hill, Steph Twell, Katie Hewison, support athletes as much as he does, he understands with a VIP experience and Wells says: “We would love to use Michael Rimmer and KJT comeback as an over-50 and ran that it’s not always an easy journey to become an elite boxes that maybe aren’t going to be used, which sometimes 24.8 for 200m. athlete. His Box4kids scheme is a clever idea, offering happens. If it’s for a Premier League game, we can fill it in an Wells modestly plays down fantastic experiences to kids, it’s a pleasure to be a his performances, though. “When hour after talking to the hospitals.” part of it.” you see what other people do, it’s incredible,” he says, with his ‘inner Barrie Wells (third from left) at I wanted. He was a bit surprised that to team up with coach Malcolm influenced her and she quoted men and women that he chose fan’ resurfacing. “Steve Peters for a Box4Kids event before a I had Katarina (Johnson-Thompson) Arnold and Meadows found winter Steve Prefontaine, who once said, to sponsor, 11 made the top six example is an incredible masters Liverpool FC match as she was only 15 at the time and training camps in South Africa ‘The best pace is a suicide pace at London – an extraordinary sprinter.” hadn’t come across his radar much. valuable. and today looks like a good day to achievement. “Those Olympics were Now aged 79, Wells still looks in But he was happy to write what Yet Wells was hugely intrigued by die’. I told her he died in 1975 but a culmination to me,” says Wells. good shape. Not just physically but was a very good letter to Jessica one athlete in particular – Johnson- she said that she knew that but mentally too. He proves it as well Ennis, Katarina’s mum and about Thompson. He had a passion for that she could relate to it. So when A lifetime in athletics with a party trick that illustrates eight athletes in total to ask if they combined events himself and she went on to the start line in the runs in Wells’ blood. something that I didn’t know about wanted to meet up to talk to me had read avidly about Johnson- final event in last year, I could His grandfather was Ernest Latimer him. He is a maths genius with an about it. They all said yes although Thompson’s teenage exploits in AW. imagine her thinking ‘today is a Stones, a world record-holder for uncanny knack of being able to one asked if they wanted me to “I thought she was incredible but good day to die’.” the pole vault in the 1880s. He never multiply and divide large numbers meet their agent instead and I she could have had completely the Wells adds: “The relationship knew Stones but says athletics was in a flash off the top of his head. thought ‘er, no, I’m not interested in wrong attitude,” he says. “So I went absolutely clicked despite her being very much part of the family life and He challenges me to call up doing it that way’.” to see her with her coach and mum. 15 years old and me being so much one of his uncles was a Northern my calculator on my phone and Wells did not simply want to “I went along with these older.” Among other things, Wells Counties sprints champion. asks me to type in some numbers, write blind cheques for the athletes, expectations of an unbelievable partly bought Johnson-Thompson’s As an athlete himself he ran 50 multiplying repeatedly until they though. He needed them to talent for someone that age but I first car and paid for driving lessons seconds for 400 yards on a cinder reach huge figures. Like a magic convince him how they were going wondered what she’d be like as a so she wouldn’t have to walk and track, although he might have run trick, he then tells me what my to spend the money and how it person and as soon as she started get buses to training while carrying quicker if he had trained harder. original number was. Such ability, would help them. With Ennis-Hill, talking to me she knew all about her equipment on wet winter nights. “Sadly I didn’t have the same talent he says, proved an enormous help for example, she was keen for her Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Carolina Wells chose wisely with his as my grandfather,” he says. “Also, to him during his business career in trusted physiotherapist Alison Rose Klüft and that her ambitions were to sponsored athletes, too. Johnson- Liverpool in the 1960s was a pretty insurance. to accompany her to competitions go right to the top – but it was not Thompson made the team for sociable place with the pop groups Wells studied at the well-known or camps, whereas Greene needed said in any boastful way. London 2012 while Ennis-Hill and Beatles etc so I enjoyed the life independent school Merchant help to relocate from to Bath “I asked what else had took gold. In total, out of 18 sports there and didn’t train very hard.” Taylors on Merseyside but did

28 AW AW 29 THE BIG INTERVIEW BARRIE WELLS not go to university and says Johnson-Thompson and Meadows, his mathematical ability wasn’t WHAT THEY SAY: for example, and delighted that totally understood. There were no JENNY MEADOWS, former 800m athletes like Goldie Sayers and calculators back then, so some international: “I met Barrie at the end many others get involved as of 2010 and he was so keen to help people assumed he was making Box4Kids hosts. Trevor (Painter, her husband) and I get his answers up. However, I can’t help Athletes who he says he “has on the podium in 2012. I’ve honestly think his affinity with numbers is never met anyone like him. He is so never given a penny to” such as also related to his love of athletics. passionate about doing the right thing Adam Gemili, Andrew Pozzi, Guy As a youngster the athletics and helping people to achieve their Learmonth and have action in 1954 really captured his potential and really wants to throw also popped into his viewing box imagination. He was only 14 at himself into the journey. to meet the sick children at major the time as the sports world was “He made it very clear from the athletics events. dominated by the news of Roger beginning that he isn’t a corporate Given his knowledge of the Bannister running the world’s first sponsor; instead he wants to be a history of the sport and his sub-four-minute mile. Soon after, friend and supporter and know about involvement in recent years, Wells the good things and the bad things Chris Chataway paced John Landy is well placed to give some views going on during the run up to the to a world record of 3:58.00. Then on the sport’s various issues too. games. Trevor and I decided that the came the biggest help that Barrie could provide “There are loads. How long have we in Vancouver with Bannister beating was to assist us with our altitude got?” he smiles, before adding: “At Landy in the ‘miracle mile’, while training camps to Potchefstroom, as UKA it seems obvious to me that it’s Chataway took three miles gold. At although I was able to tap into British important we get the right people the European Championships the Athletics’ altitude camps, we didn’t in place. So many people lately 1500m was won by Bannister, with consider it specific enough for the have just not been right (for the Vladimir Kuts of the Soviet Union 800m event to go to Kenya as the altitude there was too high to be able to do the quality roles). Neil Black was a wonderful, beating Chataway in the 5000m. sessions and run at the speeds I needed to for my event. wonderful physio but I didn’t see Finally, in October, Chataway got “Barrie agreed and even came out to South Africa on a couple of occasions to see us him having the role he had (as work out there and soon discovered it wasn’t a holiday .... we even took him up a 1km hill revenge on Kuts with a spectacular performance director).” Wells adds, we used to train on and he soon realised the effort we were putting in. 5000m victory and world record at disappointingly, that he has written “Barrie continued to support us all the way through to 2016 when I retired when many the White City. sponsorship deals and funding had dried up. We had become great friends and he to some recent high-ranking Now, as we sit in Wells office, wanted me to finish the sport on my terms and his support allowed me to do this. He is administrators but sometimes not he shows me a framed letter that certainly one of a kind and is still a big part of my life today. even had a reply. Bannister gave him after he had “Trevor and I recently ran a half-marathon for his charity which is something neither Some recognise the important been privileged enough to enjoy of us would have wanted to do for any other reason. The very fact that Trevor even part he has played, though. “After the a small lunch to celebrate one contemplated doing that speaks volumes for the impact that Barrie has had on our lives Olympics in London I was invited of the sub-four anniversaries with and the respect that we have for him.” to Beth Tweddle’s house for what Bannister, Chataway, Clive Bannister we thought was afternoon tea,” he (Sir Roger’s son) and Ron Dennis, the you take an established model of the British distance runner, who says. “There were about 100 people founder of McLaren. business and turn it on its head by Wells tried to recruit into triathlon there and we’re told we’re all there “It was absolutely surreal introducing a new and unusual way until he found out ‘Thommo’ wasn’t because we were all part of her discussing lap times and of working. He used this method to a marvellous swimmer. story and helped her at some stage personalities from 1952 to 1956 with create and sell businesses to make As Wells has become more in her life. It was so touching.” them some 55 years later,” says his fortune, most notably selling an known throughout sporting circles, Similarly, Johnson-Thompson Wells. “Wonderful moments for an insurance firm to Allianz for £30m he has gained more recognition too. showed him how much he meant athletics fanatic like me!” in 2006. He was recently awarded an MBE for to her in 2014 when she came to Linked to his athlete services to charity and, among other his honorary doctorate presentation What next for Wells? sponsorships, he began a things, sits on the Athletics at Edge Hill University despite the After spending time with Wells I get scheme called Trigold with British hall of fame judging panel. fact she was being pursued by the the impression he is a restless and Triathlon to try to fast-track good Most of all, though, he appears media for having just withdrawn indefatigable ‘ideas man’, always runners into triathlon. One of the to cherish the friendships he from the Commonwealth Games in searching for the next thing to do. athletes, Katie Hewison, joined the has formed with athletes whose due to injury. So, I ask him, what is next? Trigold programme from mountain sponsorship deals have long since “She just turned up and sat on With his athlete sponsorship days running and became world run out. The financial backing ends the front row,” he recalls. “She said largely behind him, he now puts his duathlon champion before going at some stage, he has discovered, ‘you’ve supported me so I wanted energy into Box4Kids and wants to on to work as general manager of but it often turns into emotional to support you’.” take it abroad. the Barrie Wells Trust. support and, subsequently, a long- What began as a purely financial He also gives talks on ‘disruptive One of the ones that got away, time and genuine friendship. arrangement has turned into far entrepreneurship’. This is where Wells reveals, was Chris Thompson, He is particularly close to more for most of the athletes.

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