Background
Espir was born into an athletic family.
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James Espir
Edit ProfileEducation
Espir was educated at Harrow School where he excelled at running.
Career
Espir competed for Shaftesbury Harriers Athletics Club and for Great Britain. His talent attracted the attention of Harry Wilson, coach to the world"s greatest miler at that time, Steve Ovett. Under Wilson"s guidance, Espir embarked on a rigorous training schedule with Ovett and other world-class athletes, and competitive success soon followed.
As a 21-year-old in 1980, he ran 1500 metres in 3 minutes 38.2 seconds, a time which would have stood as a British record ten years previously.
The following year Espir ran a mile in 3 minutes 56.7 seconds, thereby becoming the fastest Jewish miler ever. Espir"s subsequent athletics career was frequently interrupted by injury.
After one such lay-off he returned to running under a new coach, Alf Wilkins, and went on to retain his Maccabiah Games 1500 metres title in 1985. After this he retired from top-class athletics to pursue a career in banking.
(In 1986, Shaftesbury Harriers amalgamated with Barnet Copthall Ladies Athletics Club to form Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers).
Espir completed the 2004 London Marathon at the age of 45 in a time of 2 hours 47 minutes and 3 seconds, despite stumbling in slippery conditions around five miles from the finish and stress-fracturing his hip and four vertebrae of his back.
Achievements
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His maternal grandfather Edward Smouha won the bronze medal as a member of the Great Britain team in the 4 x 100 metre relay at the 1928 Summer Olympics. At the age of 18, Espir was the United Kingdom Junior 3000 metres champion both indoors and outdoors, and had already represented his country at senior international level In the 1981 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, he won the 1500 metres and 5000 metres Gold Medals on successive days, and two days later set an Israeli All-comers" record at 1500 metres.
Membership
Espir continued to compete at club level as a member of Shaftesbury Harriers, at distances from 800 metres up to the Marathon.
