{{Short description|British runner (1925–1986)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Len Eyre | image = | caption = | nationality = British (English) | sport = Athletics | event = middle-distance | club = Leeds Harehills Harriers | birth_date = 27 November 1925 | birth_place = Sheffield, England | death_date = November 1986 | death_place = Harrogate, England | height =179 cm | weight =64 kg | medaltemplates= {{Medal|Sport | Athletics}} {{Medal|Country | {{ENG}} }} {{Medal|Comp|Commonwealth Games}} {{Medal|Gold |1950 Auckland|3 Miles}} {{Medal|Silver |1950 Auckland|1 Mile}} }} '''Leonard Eyre''' (27 November 1925 – November 1986)<ref name="Olympedia">{{Olympedia|69043}}</ref> was an English middle and long-distance runner who won gold and silver medals at the British Empire Games.
== Biography == He was born in Sheffield and was a member of the Harehills Harriers athletics club, Leeds and won multiple titles in the Leeds & District and Yorkshire areas.<ref name="Olympedia"/>
Eyre finished third behind Bill Nankeville in the 1 mile event at the 1949 AAA Championships.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000728/19490716/012/0012 |title=Alan with 7 others |work=Daily Record |date=16 July 1949 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=14 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003214/19490718/147/0006 |title=Won AAA titles |work=Daily News (London) |date=18 July 1949 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=14 April 2025}}</ref>
At the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland he won the gold medal in the 3 miles/5000 metres event, having not regularly competed at that distance and he finished second to Bill Parnell of Canada in the 1 mile event.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://teamengland.org/commonwealth-games-history/auckland-1950/athletes |title=Auckland 1950 Team |website=Team England |access-date=14 April 2025}}</ref> He was welcomed home by a crowd led by the mayor of Harrogate, Mary Fisher, and driven home to his village of Beckwithshaw in a Rolls-Royce limousine, making an entrance to cheers and the ringing bells of St Michael and All Angels.<ref name="BO 23 February 1950">{{cite news |title=Village bells ring out to welcome Len Eyre home |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003150/19500223/133/0006 |access-date=19 July 2025|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Bradford Observer |date=23 February 1950 |page=6 cols 5,7}}</ref> Shortly after his Empire Games success he finished second at the 1950 AAA Championships, losing out to Nankeville again over the 1 mile distance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=14 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/aaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (men) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=14 April 2025}}</ref>
He competed in the 1500 metres at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki, but was eliminated in the heats. He then moved to longer distances. He last competed internationally in 1953 in a Great Britain v Sweden match in which he was 3rd in the 5000 metres. He died aged 60 in 1986.<ref name=sportsref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200418041031/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ey/len-eyre-1.html Len Eyre at Sports Reference.com]. Retrieved 1 July 2013</ref><ref name=sportheroes>[http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics/great-britain/len-eyre-916/1950-commonwealth-games-3-miles-gold_a08014/ Len Eyre at Sporting Heroes.net]. Retrieved 1 July 2013</ref>
Eyre won the Civil Service Cross-Country Championship every year from 1948 to 1953, a competition he qualified for by virtue of being a Post Office Saving Department employee.<ref name="Olympedia"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Footer Commonwealth Champions 5000m Men}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyre, Len}} Category:1925 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Athletes from Sheffield Category:English men long-distance runners Category:British men long-distance runners Category:English men middle-distance runners Category:British men middle-distance runners Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Category:Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games Category:20th-century English sportsmen Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics