Birchfield Harriers enjoy a golden summer at Alexander Stadium

For Birchfield Harriers, summer 2026 was one to savour. Between 10 and 16 August, the club's home, Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr, hosted the European Athletics Championships, the first time the continental championships had been held in the UK. Around 1,645 athletes from 49 nations came to Birmingham for the week.

The club had a special connection to the occasion. Ahead of the championships, organisers named the extension of the North stand after Birchfield's Matthew Hudson-Smith, who was surprised to see a stand named in his honour. He then went on to win gold in the men's 400 metres in front of a home crowd.

Birchfield Harriers was founded in 1877 and takes its name from the Birchfield district of Birmingham. Describing itself as the UK's premier athletics club, it has been based at Alexander Stadium since 1978, having previously spent decades at the nearby Alexander Sports Ground.

The roll call of Birchfield athletes is impressive. Olympians who have worn the club's colours include heptathlete Denise Lewis, Kelly Sotherton, shot putter Geoff Capes and sprinter Peter Radford, who later became chairman of UK Athletics. The club has won the British Athletics League many times, including five straight titles from 2015 to 2019.

Their home is pretty special too. Alexander Stadium, owned by Birmingham City Council, underwent a £72 million redevelopment for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, when it staged the athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies. It seats 18,000 and is described as the largest athletics stadium in the UK.

The club's success is not only about elite performers. In 2025 the Stags won five medals at the British Championships and medals at the England Athletics Relay Championships, an event Birchfield and England Athletics introduced in 2024. In March 2026 the club ran a first-of-its-kind development conference for coaches and athletes with Birmingham City University.

There is a warm welcome for newcomers too. Birchfield regularly runs Introduction to Athletics taster sessions for young people, with the next one at Alexander Stadium on Saturday 24 October 2026 from 12pm to 3pm.

Membership details and news from the club can be found on the Birchfield Harriers website.