1930 to 1939
History of Newport Harriers
| Chapter 5 1930 to 1939 |
History of Newport Harriers |
The Welsh Cross Country Championships showed an improvement by the seniors when they finished 2nd with the clubs first runner L.Wilce home in 7th, he was followed by F.Powell 12, H.James 19, TH.Thomas 21, R.Masser 23 and J.Overton 28, other members but not scoring were F.Stanley 29, J.Kane 32, and M.Roberts 34.
The Junior team established a record by winning the title for a second year in succession, W.Short who finished first for the team and 5th in the race had to be deleted from the score and this allowed J.Kane to be included in the scoring team, I do not know why Short was removed but he was awarded a Special Medal by the club for his run. The winning team was L.Wilce 9, W.Cook 11, F.Stanley 15, TH.Thomas 18, M.Roberts 24, and J.Kane 25. non-scorers were J.Overton 34 and R.Masser 36.
In the "Novice" Welsh Cross Country championships the clubs "A" team did not run as expected and were beaten into 3rd place behind Splott YMCA 19, and Pontnewydd 47, Newports team of TH.Thomas 7, F.Stanley 13, M.Roberts 14 and J.Kane 16 totaled 50 points, while in the Youths Championships, Newport finished in second with the following team 4th, H.Croome, 6th RS.Sully, 12th ,J.Swindley behind Splott YMCA who took the team title for the third successive year. The youths team for the first time supported the Midlands Cross Country championships in Birmingham and finished 10th out of 32 teams. At Cwmbran the Midlands Cross Country championships for Juniors took place and we under performed to come in 12th out of 28 teams.
On Whit-Tuesday at the Newport Athletic Club at Rodney Parade a splendid inter-club meeting took place between Roath Harriers, Westbury Harriers, Newport Athletic Club, Newport Harriers and Surrey Athletic Club who brought a number of internationals in their team and because of they strength won the meeting easily. During the summer at the WAAA championships the club had a number of title winners namely H.Aubrey 100yds(10.4), T.Wrighton 200yds Youths(25.4), EJ.Edwards 2 mile walk(15.38.4), L.Noble 100yds Boys(11.3) and 2nd Relay Team. In the County Championships H.Aubrey won the 100yds, TH.Thomas(mile),N.C.Moses(880yds) ,S.Edwards(14 mile walk) At international level H.Aubrey and T.H.Thomas ran for Wales in the match against Achilles Club at Swansea which saw H.Aubrey win the "P.F.Llewellyn" Cup awarded to the Welshman who put up the best individual performance, for his 220yds win and 2nd place in 100yds
The Walking section had another imroved year with the team winning the WAAA Road Walk "Novice" Championship and the Relay Trackwalk title and the seniors were placed second in both the WAAA and Monmouthshire Road Walking Championships, E.J.Edwards and his brother Stan won the individual titles in the two mile AAA, and Monmouthshire County Championships respectively.
Life memberships were awarded to George Shore, Robert G.Davies, Frank Pinkard and William E.Fisher.
On January 31st at Pontnewydd the club won the Welsh Junior Cross Country Championship for the third consecutive year, our winning team was TJ.Friend 5th, J.Overton 11th, K.Oliver 15th, R.Masser(capt) 16th, B.Griffiths 20th and L.Williams 30th for a total score of 97,non-scoring members of the team were O.Proffitt 36th and J.Morgan 41st. In the senior event we were placed 2nd behind Cwmbran Harriers who scored 78 to our 110, our first home was W.Short 5th.
Short went on to represent Wales in the International Cross Country Championships held in Dublin.
In the Welsh Youth Cross Country Championship the club finished in 3rd place and in the Welsh Inter-College Cross Country Championships TH.Thomas beat all opposition to become champion and captain of the Welsh Varsity Team.
During the year our walking section has had a very successful season, in the Monmouthshire AAA Road Walk Championships they won the Senior race with FC.Gibbons leading the club home in 2nd, followed by RF.Banwell 4th, S.Edwards 5th, D.Mould 6th, the novices also won their title
which was run in conjunction with the Senior event, D.Mould who was placed 6th was the first novice home and therefore took the champion title he was followed next by G.North 12th, J.Cambrey 19th and W.Edwards 22nd. This led on to the Welsh AAA Road Walking Championships which again Newport took both the Senior and Novice titles, the senior team was FC.Gibbons 1st, LR.Spooner 7th, WH.Blackwell 8th, RT.North 11th, scoring 27pts. The novice team was LR.Jones 14th, SH.Gibbons 18th, GA.Cook 24th, W.Kerslake 25th, scoring 81pts, FC.Gibbons won the individual Senior title and LR.Jones the Novice title. For the first time ever in the history of the club a team was entered for the English Road Walking Championships and we came 20th out of 35 teams.
On the track the club ran in most of the Relay Team races at most of the SouthWales athletic meetings and were placed 2nd in the Welsh AAA championship event, while the road racing team did well to win the Cefn-Forest Band Sports meeting defeating the holders Cwmbran Harriers, they also finished 2nd in the Monmouthshire Championships relay race in Newbridge.
At the Welsh AAA Championships, H.Aubrey was 2nd to C.Cupid of Swansea Valley AC in the 100yds, while EJ.Thomas won the Youths 100yds. At the Monmouthshire AAA Championships held at different places, NC.Moses won the mile race at Pontypool, TH.Thomas took the 880yds title held at Lovells Sports day and H.Aubrey won the 220yds at Chepstow, all three went on to run for Wales against the Southern Counties AAA.
Newport Thursday section had a meeting with Tylorstown at Porth which they won by 10pts, but this was not the normal cross-country or road events which take part in but a track meeting, in the 120yds, T.Davies of Tylorstown beat our athlete, and they also won the 2 miles with B.Griffiths, and although Newport won the 880.C.Davies,440.T.Thomas,220.E.Greenfield, mile
T.Thomas, 300. E.Greenfield,1000yds. T.Thomas plus the relay, Tylorstown scored well by taking 2nd & 3rd places.
The Welsh Novice Cross Country Championships were again held at Pontynewydd and we had the honour of providing the winning team and also the individual winner, L.Tongue won the individual title and led his team-mates home, they were T.Davies 7th, LR.Jones 14th, and TL.Morgan 15th the non-scorers were in 17th W.Screen, 18th, W.Harris, and 21st, AS.James, the ‘B’ team led by AA.Bosley finished 8th of fifteen teams.
At the Welsh Junior Cross Country Championships which we had won the preceding years, was held at Caerleon and we were 3rd, and in the Welsh Youths Cross Country Championships held the same day we were placed 4th. The Senior race was run at Llantarnam and we finished in 4th place led home by L.Williams. TH.Thomas retained his Welsh Varsity Cross Country title run over the Swansea College course. During the Cross Country season, Newport had a match against Roath Harriers on 19th Nov and running for the Cardiff side was a certain Ken Harris, who we all know in later life as one of the most respected men in Welsh athletics (he finished 8th).
The Walking section of the club performed well during the year and in the Monmouthshire AAA road walking championships won the team and individual titles, FC.Gibbons won the individual title in a record time and he repeated the feat at the Welsh AAA road walking championships again with a record time. In a track met at Wattstown on May 26th, Penrhys Harriers beat Newport Harriers by 18pts, for Newport E.Greenfield scored 13pts, winning the 100 &220yds, there were also a win for H.Tongue (mile) all the other events went to Penrhys.In the return meeting at Pill Harriers ground on July 14th, Newport had revenge, beating Penrhys by 34 to 26, Newport had wins from T.Williams(100yds), 880yds WA.Davies, 2mile walk FC.Gibbons, mile H.Tongue, plus the relay.
Newport opened their winter season at Pontnewydd on Oct 8th with a strong team, but with the Welsh champion Gallivan leading the host club, Newport had to work hard for a victory. Gallivan held off Newport’s Len Tongue to bring home the hosts with Newport’s scorers L.Williams 4,W.Screen 6, Len’s brother Hugh in 7, W.Short 8,T.Davies 9 for a score of 36 against Pontnewydd’s 52.
A week later at Pontypool the match produced a rare tussle for 1st place with L.Tongue and A.Stone (Pontypool) not being able to be split by the judges and therefore given a tie for first, Newport’s runners then finished 4th L.Williams, 5th H.Tongue, 6th W.Short, 8th T.Davies, 9th W.Harris for 33pts to Pontypool’s 54.
The Thursday section also had matches and against the United Services at Newport they proved to strong and won by 10pts. The team was A.Davies(capt) 1st, H.Head 4, H.Edwards 5, E.Couch 6 (the jewelers in High street), A.Robins 8, L.Davies 10. for the services side Signaller F.Gibbon, Petty Officer W.Cook, and Gunner G.North were all members of the Newport Harriers, in fact W.Cook was too become the club’s secretary.
On Nov 5th, Newport produced the fireworks when they beat the Gloucester Champions Westbury Harriers at Uskside, Newport. The most striking feature of the race was the fact that only one senior in the count for Newport was an international, that being W.Short, to beat a club like Westbury with a junior/novice side speaks volumes for the strength of the Newport club. L.Tongue 1st, W.Screen 3, H.Tongue 4, W.Short 5, W.Harris 6, T.Davies 7, = 26pts. For Westbury R.Fox 2, W.Shearman 9, P.Bryant-Daunt 10, J.Bryant 11, H.Hughes 12, D.Howard 14, = 58.
Nov 12, Newport had another win, this time against Spillers at Newport by 34 to 52, Newport’s taem were H.Tongue 1, L.Tongue 2, F.Powell 4, W.Short(capt) 8, T.Davies 9, W.Screen 10, for Spillers J.Burch 3, F.Shackell 5, D.Griffiths 6, E.Edwards 7, H.Lewis 14, E.Williams 17.
Nov 19, and the team roll on to another win this time against Roath Harriers at Roath, winning by 20 pts to 49, Newport’s team were 1 L.Tongue, 2 H.Tongue, 3 W.Screen, 5 W.Short(capt),7 W.Cook, 11 T.Davies, for Roath E.Hopkins 4, A.Watson 6, Ken Harris 8, G.Richards 9, G.Watson 10, R.Bennett 12.
The Welsh "Novice" cross-country championships were held at Pontnewydd and the Newport team finished 2nd led home by W.Harris, while the Junior championships were run at Caerleon and we easily regained the title with Len Tongue winner the individual title and the team of H.Tongue, Trevor Davies, W.Harris, A.W.davies and F.W.Walker the winning team.The Welsh senior championships were also held at Caerleon and Newport’s H.Tongue was placed 4th and led the team to 4th place.
During the summer months the club had the most successful season for a number of years, numerous victories being recorded in both team and handicap races.
The club was invincible in the Two mile team races organised at various Sports meetings, the following victories being recorded, Newport athletic Club, Whit Monday, Pontypool Carnival Week, (June), winning the "Eastern Valley" Shield, Llanbradach, (August Monday) winning the "Welfare"Cup. On both occasions L.Tongue was the individual winner and the other members of the winning team were H.Tongue, W.Short, L.Williams, H.Head.
The club won the "Argus Shield" in the Royal Gwent Road race and were represented by W.Short 4, L.Tongue 7, H.Tongue 8, L.Williams 9. The club also won the Road race organised in connection with the Abertillery Shopping Week, the team being W.Short 1, A.Davies 5, L.Williams 7, W.Cook 8, W.Meaker 11, J.Morgan 14.
At the Welsh AAA championships, an excellent victory was recorded in the Three Mile Track race at Abercarn by L.Tongue setting a record time.
F.E.Powell won the 880yd Monmouthshire Championship title at Blaenavon and the club was strongly represented in the Monmouthshire team against Glamorganshire at Whitchurch on August 26, by the following members H.Aubrey, H.Tongue, F.E.Powell, L,Tongue, W.Short, and T.Jones who help secure victory for the Monmouthshire team.
The Road Walking section won the Welsh Title and provided the individual winner in A.Pearcey followed by F.C.Gibbon 3, W.Pearcey 5, R.Beanland 6, and J.Collins won the Welsh Novice Road Walking Title. Victories were also recored in the Monmouthshire Novice and Senior Championships with individual honours going to F.C.Gibbon in the senior event, in the novice event the team was R.Beanland 3, W.pearcey 4, T.Jones 5, D.Reid 6, and the senior team C.F.Wilmot(junior) 3, L.R/Spooner 4, R.T.North 5.
The club had a great win in the "News Of The World" Relay from Newport to Swansea with the team of F.E.Powell, A.W.Davies, T.R.Davies, W.Harris, W.Screen, A.Pearcey, L.Williams, L.Tongue, W.Cook, H.Tongue and W.Short in a record time.
On July 15 at Kimberley Park, Newport, the club had a meeting with Penrhys Harriers which resulted in a win for Newport by 26pts, the keenest race was the 1000yds, in which International athlete W.Matthews of Penrhys and Newport’s captain W.Screen had a rare old tussle, both kept together throughout and had a bursting sprint to finish with only inches between them, Matthews winning. In the mile race B.G.Pring(Newport) won, leading his team collegue H.Rowlands into 2nd place and 3rd H.Morgan(Penrhys).The 100yds went to C.Francis(Pen) 10.4, 2nd H.Humpreys(New), 3rd J.S.Jones(New), the 440 was won by J.R.Tizard(New) 56.4, with R.Osmond taking 2nd, the 880yds was won by Newport runner J.E.Nicholls 2.16.1, 2nd.Gordan Taylor(New),3rd R.Rosser(Pen) and the 220yds went to C.Symons(New) 24.1, with 2nd place going to C.Francis(Pen) and 3rd C.Humphries(New).
The following Newport Harrier athletes have been selected for Monmouthshire against Glamorgan in the inter county meeting at Gelli Galed Park, Ystrad Rhondda on August 24, 100yds reserves H.Aubrey & J.Wrigthon. 220yds J.Wrigthon, C.Symons(Res), 880yds F.E.Powell, Mile P.Dee & B.G.Pring, 3 mile team, L.Tongue, W.Short, E.Griffiths(res), B.G.Pring(res), 2 mile walk A.R.Pearcey & T.Jones, J.Cavell(res).
Nov saw a glorious win over the Welsh champions Cwmbran Harriers by Newport
in the 57.5 mile Newport-Cardiff-Swansea relay organised by "The News Of
The World", after the first relay leg the leaders were Pontnewydd followed
by Penrhys and in 3rd place Cwmbran, during the second leg things changed with
Cwmbran leading at the end of the leg closely followed by Newport with Elyn in
3rd, through the outskirts of Cardiff, Cwmbran maintained they led with Spillers
now moving into 2nd with Roath Harriers 3rd, at the next change over Cwmbran
still held the lead with Spillers and Roath holding the same places, at the next
change the gap between the leaders Cwmbran and Roath now in 2nd had closed to
less than a minute, in 3rd were Spillers, on the road to Bridgend Newport moved
into 3rd behind the leaders and this was the position at the next change, the
following leg saw Newport move above Roath who were also passed by Spillers, the
Cardiff club fought back on the 8th stage to go back into 3rd place behind
Cwmbran & Newport, the ninth leg saw a startling change with W.Cook cutting
into Cwmbrans lead and the next change at Briton Ferry saw Cook hand over the
lead for Newport, a lead they kept to the finish to record a winning time of 5hr
20.6. with Cwmbran home in 5.23.4. followed by Roath 5.28.7 and Spillers
5.30.19. The club’s time was a new record by 5min,05sec.
This year saw the merging of the Pill section with the main club and an
increase in the clubs membership, during the summer months a number of open
meetings took place.
At Rudry in a 3.5 mile road race our juniors carried off the 1st team award, the
members of that team were BG.Pring 2nd, JB,Lordan 3rd, ER,Griffiths 5th,and
KA.Thomas 7th, and BG.Pring was awarded the prize for first junior to finish.
Its noted that the Newport Harriers Cup, this is a relay event, was won by Newport Battalion Boys Brigade 7th company At Pontypool in the 3 mile team race for the Eastern Valleys Services Cup the club were beaten only by Cwmbran; our team finishing WG.Short 2nd,ER.Griffiths 3rd, BG.Pring 7th and JB.Lordan 11th. To follow on from that at Blaeavon in a 2 mile team race we were again 2nd behind Cwmbran, this time the was BG.Pring 2nd, ER.Griffiths 6th, WA.Davies 7th, FE.Powell 8th.
In the Royal Gwent Hospital Road race over 5 miles we were again second to a very good Cwmbran team, those who were scorers for the team were, BG.Pring 2nd, WG.Short 5th, FE.Powell 7th, JB.Lordan 9th, and in the non-harrier section CF.Wilmot ran well to come home in 4th place. In the junior section, in the three open relay races they entered they won, notable win was at the Cardiff Gas Works Sports and was the first time the trophy had left Cardiff. A special mention must be made of two members who were selected to play for Wales at football, these being Noel Phillips and Ken Wookey while Jack Thomas played for the town at rugby, and in the Newport secondary schools X-C championships over 2.5 miles AE.Harman took the title in 15.48.
During the year the following gained championship honours, AR.Pearcey
retained his Welsh 2 mile Track walking title with clubmate CF.Wilmot in 2nd
place, Arthur was also successful for the second year winning the Monmouthshire
AAA title and was narrowly beaten in the Welsh Road Walk.
LW.Tongue again won the Welsh AAA 3 mile in 15.07, and PA.Dee was 3rd in the
Welsh AAA mile, JH.Overton kept the Welsh Marathon title in the club winning in
a time of 3h26.15, while in the Monmouthshire AAA 880yds FE.Powell was just
beaten into 2nd place, and at the same championships RG.Davies took the title in
the novice road walk.
The season proved to be one of the best ever, team honours being carried off in all the events entered, in the Welsh AAA 15 mile a clear cut win for the club was gained by our 'A' team of AR.Pearcey 2nd, LR.Spooner 3rd, DJP.Richards 6th, W.Pearcey 8th to win the "Pleasance & Harper" trophy. And at the Monmouthshire AAA's we won both the Road walking senior and novice titles, the teams being, seniors, AR.Pearcey 1st, JH.Carvell 3rd, LR.Spooner 4th, WE.Pearcey 5th. and the novice team RG.Davies 1st, RH.Howells 2nd, G.Smith 3rd, H.Hobbs 4th, while TCR. Bromham was the first vet with WA.Pitt 2nd.
A new Road walk race of 9.5 miles in aid of St.Andrews Church at Lliswerry,
was successfully staged by the club and we won both the first team and second
team awards, the 'A' team scoring 15pts with AR.Pearcey 1st, RG.Davies 3rd,
WE.Pearcey 5th, RT.North 6th and the 'B' team of ACE.Sharpe 4th, S.Jones 7th,
JH.Griffiths 9th, AL.Adlam 11th.
In the Newport to Swansea "News of the World" road relay race, the club improved
upon last years performance when we were 3rd, by coming 2nd beaten narrowly
again by you know who, 'Cwmbran' with Roath Harriers in 3rd place, our team was
WA.Davies, ER.Griffiths, JH.Overton, WE.Harris, CV.Boots, JB.Lordan, WG.Short,
WL.Screen, FE.Powell, PA.Dee, and BG.Pring in a time of 5h.25.39.
As many remember this section was for club members who work on saturdays and
could not compete but because of the halfday closing on thursday arrange
meetings on that day.
During the year a fixture was arranged with Bristol University at Bristol and
track meetings with Penrhys and Pill AC. the fixtures with Penrhys saw us lose
at their track and a win at home, Pill AC were defeated on both occassions and
in front of large crowds.
Mr.WE.Fisher our chairman was elected to the International X-C board and also as
Hon Treasurer of the Welsh X-C Association and was also made Vice-President of
the same association.
Mr.W.Taylor was awarded a placque for 15 years service to the X-C association.
A ladies section has been formed and will be looking forward to coming season.
At the Welsh X-C championships held at Cwmbran the club were placed 3rd in the Senior event with WL.Screen the first home for the team in 15th, while in the Junior event at Whitchurch we were again 3rd, with BG.Pring in 7th our first member to finish, the Novice Championships were held in Grangetown, Cardiff and our team were to finish 6th with CV.Boots our first home in 19th place, all the three mentioned athletes received Welsh Bronze medals.
At Caerleon the Midland Counties X-C junior championships took place and we
were to finish in 7th place out of 18 teams, and the team were led home by
BG.Pring in 17th.
In the Welsh One mile Championships held at Newport Athletic Club, PA.Dee was
placed 2nd by inches behind Welsh record holder RH.Thomas and was the best
performance by a home based Welsh athlete at the championships and was awarded
an inscribed pocket watch for the performance.
AR.Pearcey once again proved the best man in track walking and won from M.Bingham, and DJP.Richards. Richards the ex-International X-C Champion defeated Bingham(Glamorgan Walking Club) in a record time of 2h.5.10 in the AAA's Road Walk Championships with RG.Davies in 3rd, the team race was won by Glamorgan Walking club with the Harriers in 2nd place.
In the meeting between Combined Counties and Met Police AC at Imber Court,
London, PA.Dee won the mile walk and AR.Pearcey in the 2 mile walk also won,
PA.Dee, AR.Pearcey, EH.Humphries, NCW.Lee, FE.Powell, BG.Pring, E.Griffiths all
competed for the Monmouthshire team in the inter-counties match at Crosskeys and
received their County colours.
The track team competed at Pontypool Hospital Fete Sports, Blaenavon Parks
Committee's Sports and the Royal Gwent Hospital Fete Road races.
At the Welsh schools championships in Neath, Jack Thomas won both the 100yds and
220yds, and another brilliant youngster FE.Nicholls outrun a very strong field
to win the Welsh Youths X-C Championships at Caerleon on March 6th.
In the Monmouthshire AAA championships PA.Dee won the one mile event from
EJ.Griffiths and BG.Pring at Ynysddu on Aug 3rd, the first three all members of
the Harriers.
The Road Walk Championships as usual sponsored bt the "South Wales Argus" was
won by AR.Pearcey with WS.Woods and T.Jones in 2nd & 3rd places again all
Harrier members.
The junior section under the care of JH.Overton had one of their most successful
seasons, with members winning over 30 prizes at various sports meetings, their
most outstanding member Jack Thomas who won 3 championships, the GWR boys
championship 100yds at Wolverton and the Welsh schools boys 100yds and 220yd
titles.
The team won again the Relay race at Cardiff Gas Co, Sports Cup for the second
year.
In the inter-club competitions they defeated Roath H, Newport Athletic Club,and Penrhys AC.
The Road walking section can still be claimed the best Walking club in Wales, having won the Monmouthshire Road Walking Championships, with AR.Pearcey taking 1st place followed by team-mates W.Wood & T.Jones with LR.Spooner in 5th.
In the Welsh Road Walking championships, the club were without AR.Pearcey, but the team came 2nd to Glamorgan Walking club, and we provided the winner in DJP.Richards who broke the record by over 11 minutes.
The Welsh Two mile champion was again AR.Pearcey, and in the inter-counties
race at Crosskeys, Monmouthshire took the title with AR.Pearcey and NWC.Lee part
of that team.
Six of the club's members were part of the winning team which represented
Monmouthshire against Glamorgan at Pontypool during the Hospital week.
The Thursday section had a active and enjoyable season, with Bristol Univ and Penrhys HAC both visiting and the Trophy which was competed for returned to Newport after an absence of 5 years. It was in this year that the first ladies section appeared with 14 members, look how things have moved on now in 2004.
The club competed in 12 inter-club meetings and met Newport Athletic Club at Newbridge Welfare ground where the contest was watched by over 1000 people. The club finished 3rd in the Newport to Swansea 'News of the World' relay race, being beaten by Roath Harriers and Cwmbran, our team was PB.Abbott, EJ.Griffiths, CH.Critchley, DJ.Jones, T.Fisher, A.Dando, W.Screen, AR.Pearcey, WAM.Cook, P.Dee, and BG.Pring, our time was 5h 33m 25s.
Mr.WE.Fisher was re-elected V/President and Hon Treasurer of the Welsh Cross-country Association and Hon Sec of the Monmouthshire AAA. Mr W. Taylor was also made a V/President of the WCCA.
At the Welsh Cross-Country Championships for seniors held at Caerleon, the Harriers finished 2nd behind a strong Roath Harries team, with our lead runner P.Dee taking the bronze medal.
In the Junior Championships at Port Talbot again Roath took the title
followed by Cwmbran, Newport did not finish a full team having only 6 finishers.
In the Welsh Novice Championships at Grangetown, Cardiff, DJ.Jones was our best
finisher coming home in 5th and the team taking the bronze out of 12 teams
competing. At the Youths Championships held at Caerleon FE.Nicholls took the
title of champion, the clubs first win in the event.
In the Midland 'Junior' Cross-country champs at Stourbridge, the event was again supported by the club and we finished 12 out of 20 teams with P.Dee our first man home for the team. Special reference is made of DJP.Richards performance in the 2 mile walk held at Newport on August 3rd, he clipped 12s off the Welsh record time which was held by Yeomans of 14m 12s which had stood since 1907. Several of our members took part in the Welsh AAA championships held at Elba, Swansea, DJP.Richards won the 2 mile walk with team-mates Pearcey and RG.Davies competing well to be awarded standard medals and ex-member P.Dee who now is a member of Mitcham AC won the 1 mile championship.
At the Welsh 15 Mile Road Walk Championship held during the Royal Gwent Hospital Fete, resulted in a good win for the club beating Glamorgan (holders) by 8pts, DJP.Richards who won the race the previuos year was again to good for the rest winning in a record time of 2h 9m 12s beating the record set by AR.Pearcey in 1934, W.Woods was home in the bronze medal position.
The Monmouthshire Road Walking Championships sponsored by the 'SWA' was again a great success for the club and the event was held on the 15th May to wind up the celebrations in connection with the Coronation Week. W.Woods won the title in 2h 7m 39s with NCW.Lee 2nd, and RG.Davies 3rd. The team title also went to the Harrier's with the first man home being DJP.Richards in 1h 57m 37s.
In the Thursday section, the club was very active and had a successful season, XC and T&F fixtures were again held with Penrhys Harriers with the club retaining the annual trophy between both clubs,Bristol Univ were again visited by the club and a very good days competition took place with the Harriers just winning.
On August 26th the club's two mile path Championship took place at Pill Athletic ground for the "Sir Joseph Lawrence" cup, after an exciting race which was won by B.G.Pring with 2nd E.J.Griffiths & H.Rowlands 3rd, i have no idea what formate this event had and therefore must assume that it was thought up by a club member.
We again supported the "News of the World" Newport to Swansea road race, and with a number of experienced athletes in this event no longer members many new members were put in the team and did well with the club finishing 4th, the team was G.Taylor, E.J.Griffiths, J.E.Swindley, J.B.Lorden, F.E.Nichol, W.Leadbetter, F.Jenkins, W.Screen, D.J.P.Richards, A.R.Pearcey and B.G.Pring.
During the XC season there were a number of fixtures arranged with Westbury Harriers and newly formed Race AC as well as the three cornered meeting between Cwmbran, Roath and ourselves and as usual was a hard fought contest.
The year started with the Welsh XC Senior championships held at Court Farm, Llantarnam and the Harriers finished in 6th place, The Welsh Novice XC championships were hosted by the club at Caerleon and the winners were Penrhys Harriers with Newport member J.E.Swindley taking the Bronze medal, the Welsh Youth XC championships were held at Caerleon and were won by Barry County School, while the Welsh Junior XC championships held at Port Talbot and the hosts Port Talbot YMCA, B.G.Pring put up a great effort after falling in the early part of the race to come home in the silver medal positon and help the Harriers to the bronze medal just 1 point behind Swansea Valley.
Birchfield Harriers set a new record at the Caerleon racecourse in the Midland XC Junior championships when they won a hat-trick of wins for the second time a feat they had accomplished in 1926-7-8 and now 1936-7-8, Newport Harriers finished 7th of 19 teams.
The club had XC matches against Westbury, Race AC and Roath and were very contested events.
The club entered the track team races at the Pontypool Fete Sports day and also the Royal Gwent Hospital road race, in the Royal Gwent Hospital event they finished 2nd behind Cwmbran Harriers with 2nd place taken by W.Screen.
In the Monmouthshire 1 mile championship race at Ebbw Vale S.G.Pring and E.Griffiths were 2nd and 3rd.
In the walks D.J.P.Richards had a great season winning the Welsh AAA 15mile event in a record time, West Wales 14 mile title, Welsh Championship 2 mile track walk, "SWA" road walk, West Wales 2 mile track walk in a record time, but the most outstanding feat was his winning the of the 2 mile walk at Swansea in the Inter-Counties match which saw Wales v England v Southern Counties, he not only won but broke the Welsh Native and All-Comers record and defeated A.A.Cooper the AAA 2 mile champion.
The Monmouthshire Road walking title went to Newport Harrier A.C.E.Sharpe who lead the club to the team title.
The ladies section has improved and a number of them supported local Fetes including the Pontypool Sports where Maureen Lloyd had wins and along with Iris Kelly, Joan Edmunds, Kathleen Smith and Mary Watts had success in the relay races during the summer.
As already mentioned in the Welsh AAA 15 mile road walking race which was included in the Royal Gwent Hospital Fete, the Harriers won the team event from Roath Harriers Walking club, D.J.P.Richards won in a time of 2h 5.8, in 3rd was R.G.Davies and Sharpe 5th with support from W.S.Woods 6th while veteran W.Pitt won the vets prize.
At the Welsh AAA Youth championships at Neath S.I.Griffiths a first year member came home second by inches in the 1 mile race, while in the 880yds E.J.Nicholls and J.E.Tizard took the silver and bronze medals.
Interclub fixtures took place between Newport and Penrhys Harriers and were held on Kimberley Park, Newport watched by large crowds.
The Newport to Swansea road race was again well supported and our team of G.Taylor, K.Thomas, F.Powell, W.Short, J.Nicholls, C.Jones, W.Screen, I.Griffiths, DJP.Richards, H.Rowlands and G.Pring all ran well to take the team bronze.
The began with the Welsh XC Senior Championships held at Caerleon, and the club's leading runner was S.I.Griffths who finished 11th, it was interesting that in this championship a second claim member of the club Flight Sergeant R.H.Thomas ran well enough to be selected for his first Welsh Vest.
At Cardiff the Junior Welsh XC Championship was held and B.G.Pring again getting the silver and just missing out on the title of Champion this time by 5 seconds behind L.Stuckey of Penrhys Harriers, while the team title went to Race AC with Newport in 3rd.
The same feat befell the club's youth captain E.J.Nicholls in the Welsh Youth XC Championship at Cardiff when he lost out by less then 10yds after a great race.
In the Royal Gwent Hospital Fete 5 mile road race, S.I.Griffiths had to give way to Cwmbran's Harry Gallivan but Griffiths did lead the Newport Harriers to a team win with fellow clubmembers Pring 3rd, H.Rowlands 6th, G.Taylor 7th, F.Powell 10th, K.Thomas 17th, JBF. Morgan 19th, notible in 5th was Ken Harris of Roath later to become an highly respected starter.
At the Welsh AAA Championships held at Newport Athletic club, DJP.Richards after 17years in the sport was still good enough to take the 2 mile walk title in a record time of 14m 20.1 on a sodden track, another Harrier to take a Welsh title was RG.Davies (another "SWA" road walk champion) when he won the 3 mile title with over a 100yds to spare.
The season came to an abrupt end due to the start of the War and many athletes were joining up, all fixtures were cancelled due to restrictions on travel and shortage of athletes, but the club carried on training during this period, this stoppage carried on until the end of the conflict, but in 1940, the unofficial Welsh XC Championships did take place over 6 miles at Rumney and was a substitute race and the Harriers provided the winner in S.Griffiths who as a junior also won the junior championships, in the team event Roath were winners with the Harriers in 3rd.
All athletics stopped for the next 6 years although some events took place most are unrecorded.
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