It’s no secret that Cumbria is home to some impressive sporting talent.

From cricketing legends, to local Olympians, people from the region have some seriously impressive sporting accolades behind their name.

While you might have heard about some of these sports pros, did you know that they hailed from Cumbria?

Here are some sports stars that were born and raised in a Cumbrian town near you.

Kevin Beattie

Kevin ‘The Beat’ Beattie was a Carlisle-born former footballer.

He was regarded by many as Ipswitch Town’s greatest player.

He has played at both professional and international levels, favouring a centre-half position.

Beattie was also defender for England in the early 70s.

Sadly, Kevin passed away in 2018 at the age of 64.

Dean Henderson

(Instagram/deanhenderson)

Football fans might recognise this Whitehaven lad as a Manchester United player; Henderson plays as goalkeeper for the team.

Dean grew up in the Hillcrest area of Whitehaven and even attended Jericho Primary School.

Emlyn Hughes

Hughes started his football career in the ‘60s while playing for Blackpool FC before moving to Liverpool in 67.

You might already know that he earned over 60 caps for the England national team, which he also captained, but did you know that he was born in Barrow?

In 1980, he was even made an OBE for his contributions to sport.

Sadly, Emlyn died in 2004 from a brain tumour.

Lauren Smith

(Instagram/lozzaz123)

Badminton player, Lauren Smith, represented Great Britain at the Rio Olympics.

The Carlisle-born woman has many accolades to her name, including a bronze medal at the 2016 Commonwealth games.

Together with Marcus Ellis, they won the Thailand Masters last year which was the first time an English duo have ever won the event.

Matt Jansen

Wetheral-born Matthew Jansen is a former football striker.

Jansen played for several teams throughout his career, including Carlisle United and Crystal Palace.

He was on the brink of being selected to play for England’s 2002 World Cup squad before a moped accident in Rome put him in a coma.

Since retiring from the sport, Matt has taken on some football managerial roles.

Lionel Palairet

According to Ranker (digital media company that ranks people based on searches) Lionel Palairet is in the top 20 most famous people for in Cumbria.

If you’re a cricket fan, you might be familiar with his name and his historical importance to the game.

The Grange-over-Sands man rose to fame in the 1890s and played for Somerset and Oxford University; he was chosen to play test cricket for England two times In 1902.

He scored 292 runs n 1895 which remained a record until 1948.

He was renowned for his graceful batting style and was even described as “the most beautiful batsman of all time” in his 1933 obituary.

Steve Borthwick
News and Star: (Photo: PA)(Photo: PA)
 

Borthwick is an English rugby union coach who once represented the senior England rugby union team between 2001- 2010.

In 2008, Carlisle-born Borthwick even went on to Captain the team in 2008.

Currently, Borthwick is captain of the Leicester Tigers.

Norman Gifford


(Facebook/Worcestershire County Cricket Club)

This former-cricketer played county cricket for Worcestershire and Warwickshire between 1960-1988.

However, Gifford was actually born in Ulverston.

He is regarded as somewhat of a legend in the Worcestershire team appearing in four Lord’s finals, and picking up 2,068 first-class wickets.

In more recent years, he is still involved in the team and acts as a part-time spin bowling coach.

Who do you think is the greatest sports star to ever come out of Cumbria? Let us know in the comments.​