ONE of North Staffordshire's best-known athletes has died.

Father-of-four Roy Fowler, from Leek, lost his long battle against cancer at the weekend, aged 75.

Nicknamed the Red Fox after his hair colour, his biggest achievement was winning the world cross county championship in Spain in 1963.

The Sentinel athletics correspondent Dave Edwards said: "Roy was North Staffordshire's finest ever athlete and the sport will be shocked by his loss."

A full obituary will be published in The Sentinel tomorrow.