1950 to 1955
History of Newport Harriers
| Chapter 7 1950 to 1955 |
History of Newport Harriers |
1950On January 7th, at RAF St.Athans, Newport Harriers took on the Welsh Novice
Champions RAF St.Athan, with the club juniors also competing against the RAF
apprentice school. The club had three Welsh Internationals competing in the
senior race and they were P.Wallace, I.Lloyd and T.Woods and they helped the
club to win the match with 32pts to 46pts, Paddy Wallace was the winner with
Lloyd 2nd, Woods 3rd, T.Christianson 5th with team-mates NJ Hunter 10th,
J.Webber 11th. In the junior match Newport won by just 2pts, scoring 10 to 12,
joint winners were Newport’s L.Bevan and D.Edmunds with RG Davies 7th. In the junior event the club again finished 5th with the following team of D.Edmunds 19th, R.Greening 26th, J.Webber 30th, R.James 36th, P.Farrell 37th and W.Leadbetter 54th. On the same day at Chippenham the road walking section were to finish 3rd in a race over 6 miles, scoring 32pts behind winners Trowbridge 20 and Cheltenham 27. The Welsh senior XC Championships were held at Caerleon Race Course on 11th
March, and resulted in a win for Newport Harrier’s, with 36pts from 2nd
University of Wales 61pts and 3rd Roath Harrier’s 96pts. The club’s scorers were
P.Wallace 1st, T.Woods 2nd, I.Lloyd 3rd, T.Christianson 5th, K.Thomas 9th and
P.Farrell 16th, resulting from the championship the following Harrier’s, Ivor
Lloyd, Tommy Woods and Paddy Wallace were selected to represent Wales in an
International in Brussels, The walkers were in competition over 10.75 miles at Trowbridge on March 25th,
the team of JBF Morgan 8th, W.Leadbetter 10th and R.Lippitt 13th finished second
with a score of 31pts behind host club who scored 13 with Cheltenham 3rd with
34pts. The walkers were out again two weeks later on May 6th in the ‘South Wales Argus’ 15 mile, they finished 2nd with 42pts behind Belgrave Harriers 15pts, in 3rd place were Trowbridge 54pts, RG Davies was the first man home for the club in 5th which was good enough to win the Monmouthshire title while K.Thomas who finished 23rd won the Newport Novice title. The first track & field meeting of the season took place at Treorchy where
the result was a tie with the host club both scoring 51pts, winners for the club
were; On 25th May the club held its AGM at the Kings Head Hotel, Life memberships were awarded to LR Jones and DJP Richards, the Gordon Taylor Memorial Cup went to JS Hunt the club’s 100 & 220yds County Champion and Welsh Junior 220yd record holder (23.6), the Past Presidents Cup went DM Davies. Two days later the club took part in an open meeting at Pontypool Park, Newport athletes were successful in the following events; G.Raybould 1st U15 Boys while in the junior men’s 100yds, RG Jones, the senior men’s sprinters took medals in the 220yds D.Baulch, winning from S.Riley and 3rd JS Hunt, The walkers also did well with a 1st in the senior men’s 2 mile going to R.Lippitt. The club’s strength in the 3 mile event was to much for the opposition with P.Wallace, I.Lloyd and T.Wood taking the top three places, there was a race over 100yds for women and Newport’s M.Skinner and J. Alexandra were 2nd and 3rd. The following day the Monmouthshire Championships took place at the NAC ground, in the senior events the club had success in the 220yds with J.Burns winning in 23.2 from team mates D.Baulch and S.Riley, in the 100yds future Welsh Rugby International Geoff Whitson made his debut for the club finishing 3rd. And in the senior men’s 4 x 440yds, the club set a new championship record of 46.3, beating the previous time of 49.6, at this time there were no events for women in the championships. In the 3 mile race P.Wallace won in 16.15. and the club had a clean sweep in the 440yds with a win for RG Greening with 2nd going to R.Challenger and 3rd P.Farrell, the winning time was 55.9. RG Greening also took the 880yd title followed home by R.Challenger and T.Woods, having already won the 3 mile race, Paddy Wallace then took the 1 mile title in 4.56.9 from T.Woods, in the Discus RJ Vokes won having finished 2nd in the Shot/Putt, the club achieved another clean sweep in the 2 mile walk with RG Davies winning in a record time from team-mates ACE Sharpe and C.Carter. The junior’s also had a good day, JS Hunt gaining a double in the 220yds(24.1) and 440yds(54.5), the latter shattering the previous 11yrs old record, he picked up a silver medal in the 100yds behind club mate RJ Jones who won in 11.8. Another record breaker was Lyndon Bevan who won the 1 mile (4.48), meanwhile having already won the senior Discus, RJ Vokes won both the Discus 111’5”(33.95) and the SP 41’6”(12.65) which was a new championship record. In the 1 mile walk, R.Lippitt won in a new record time, while in the youth’s event another championship record went to Newport’s A.Shrewring in the 880yds walk while G.Raybould was champion in the 100yds. On June 3rd, Newport Harrier’s AC helped in the start of an open meeting organised by Chepstow Football & Rugby Club by sending a team of athletes. The club had success in the senior men’s 100yds taking a clean sweep with 1st J.Burns (10.0), 2nd DJ Davies, 3rd G.Hellonitch, RJ Vokes won the discus 107’(32.61), P.Wallace won the 1 mile, D.Baulch took the 220yds while the club’s women’s athletes, namely M.Skinner won the 100yds with J.Alexandra 3rd. At the Monmouthshire Police Championships at Abertillery on July 1st, Harrier members did well in the open events, JS Hunt won the U19 120yds (12.2), with RJ Jones 3rd, Hunt also won the 220yds(22.0) with Jones this time 2nd. In the Welsh Championship for 1 mile medley run during the meeting, Newport could only finish 3rd behind Roath Harrier’s ‘A’ & ‘B’ teams. The following club members were selected for the county team against Welsh
Universities at NAC, Newport; The match resulted in a win for the Universities 86pts to 61pts, D.Baulch was 2nd in 100yds having won the 220yds(23.8), John Flook came 3rd in the 880yds, wins were gained by RC Greening 880yds and I.Lloyd in 3 miles while RJ Vokes could only manage a 2nd place in the discus. The Welsh 10 mile road walk event took place at Port Talbot on 8th July, the race was won by Newport with RG Davies 4th, JBF Morgan 6th, CF Carter 7th, ACE Sharpe 8th, and R.Ayre 9th he also won the Welsh Novice Championship, this is given to the highest placed athlete who had not previously finished in the top 3 in a race over 880yds. The County Championships for women took place during a match between LAC and SW& Monmouthshire at Pontypool Park on 8th July, Jean Woods won the 100yds(11.6) with Mary Skinner 2nd. The Welsh Junior and Youths Championships were held at Beachley, Chepstow on 8th July, and Newport Harrier’s could only produce one champion in J.Lowther in the junior men’s 1 mile walk with a new championship record of 7.20. The club picked up silver medals in the junior SP and Discus both by RJ Vokes, Junior 440yds JS Hunt, Youth’s 880yds walk RJ Fulson and Youth’s 100yds G.Raybould. The club held its championships on 21st July at Aberdare Welfare ground, and
the following won club titles; At the same meeting the County championships from women took place and in the 220yds Jean Woods took the title to go with the 100yds she had won on 8th July, in 2nd place was Mary Skinner in 28.1. During the same month G.Raybould also won the Welsh Schools Middle boys 100yds in Bangor, and J.Lowther was selected to represent Wales at the AAA Junior Championships in Port Dunlight, also in this month Miss Joan Cook of the Harrier’s was elected by the Midland’s AAA as their representative at all meetings held in Wales, she also held the position of Ladies Sec of Newport Harrier’s AC. On July 30th, JBF Morgan known as ‘Jack’, who is well known in the walking section of the club, took part in the Nijmegan International walk in Holland. The following club members were selected for Monmouthshire AAA against Glamorgan AAA at the NAC ground, Newport, J.Lowther equalled his own Welsh record in winning the Junior Men’s 1 mile walk and RJ Jones won the Junior Men’s100yds(10.6). These were the only successes for the club in the match, which Glamorgan won with 67pts to 63pts; they also won the youth’s meeting scoring 75 to 53. At an open meeting at Treorchy, Newport’s women’s 4 x 100yd relay team of R.Johnson, G.Pinnell, M.Skinner, J.Alexandra won easily, while M.Skinner won the 80yds from her team mate R.Johnson. November 4th saw a XC race over a 5 mile course at Caerleon Race course against the reigning Welsh Junior Champions, RAF St.Athan, Newport won the match by 35 to 46 pts with P.Wallace 1st, 4t L.Bevan, 5th T.Woods, 7th M.Pope, 8th J.Flook, 10th D.Edmunds. The club had another win two weeks later against Hopkinson AC, over a 5 mile distance in Cardiff, this time the team was Pope, Flook, Edmunds, Fiddy, Raybould, I am not sure if was G.Raybould the sprinter, I doubt it very much, Newport scored 21pts to Hopkinson’s 37.
|
1951 The first event of the year was on 13th Jan; it was a XC race against
Roath Harriers and University College Cardiff held at Kimberly Park, Newport.
Newport won the race scoring 34pts, University College 2nd 81 and Roath Harriers
3rd 83, Newport’s scorers were 1st P.Wallace, 2nd L.Bevan 3rd John Fiddy, 7th
Mel Pope, 8th T.Woods, 10th T.Christison. The Welsh XC Championships were held at Caerleon on March 10th and produced another Championship title for Newport Harrier’s scoring 33pts from the following team 1st P.Wallace, 2nd T.Wood, 4th M.Knight, 7th M.Pope, 9th K.Thomas, 10th G.Wynn, which finished ahead of University of Wales(57), 3rd Roath Harrier’s(92), Paddy Wallace was selected for the Welsh team in the International later in the month. On the same day in Trowbridge the club’s walkers were in action against Belgrave Harrier’s, Cheltenham North, and hosts Trowbridge, Eastleigh AC, Gloucester AC, and Royal Army Pay Corps. The resulted was a win for Belgrave(15) 2nd Trowbridge(22), 3rd Cheltenham North(50), 4th Newport(56), 5th Royal Army Pay Corp( 75) 6th Eastleigh( 81), 7th Glouceseter(89). At the AAA’s AGM held in London on March 17th, Newport Harrier member WE Fisher was elected Vice President and is the first ever chosen from Wales, he is shortly to be presented with the Welsh AAA’s Plaque of Honour, he joined the club in 1911 and became chairman in 1934, and was made a life member of the club in 1930. At the XC International held in Caerleon, P.Wallace finished in 59th place and was also the Welsh captain, eight countries took part with England the winners. In April at Hereford, the club were unable to field their best team in a 7 mile road race, and could only finish in 4th place, but had the winner with Paddy Wallace, newly formed Ross AC won the team title with 32pts, 2nd Worcester AC 41pts, 3rd St.Gregory’s, Cheltenham 46pts the same as Newport, but as their last scorer was in front of Newport’s, they got 3rd. in 5th were TRE Malvern 92pts, 6th Leominster 95pts and 7th Hereford AC 98pts. The Monmouthshire County Championships took place at Brynmawr on May 19th, Newport Harriers had a number of champions in the senior men, youths, and women’s events that were held, in the senior men’s Long jump KJ Davies won with a leap of 19’10” (6.04m) with his team-mate N.Goff taking bronze, Goff also won a bronze in the H/J and a silver in the 120H behind the winner RC Greening who won the 440yds (54.6). The 100yd title went to Newport’s Geoff Whitson in 10.9, he also took the 220yds, the club had a clean sweep in this event with silver going to D.Baulch and 3rd place RH Gardner, the club also had all the medallist’s in the 880yds, G.Clayton claiming the title of champion followed by P.Lumborg and T.Christison. The 2 mile walk title went to J.Lowther, followed by clubmates R.Lippitt 2nd and 3rd G.Channing. In the women’s 220yds Mary Skinner was the champion winning in 29.2, but she could only finish 3rd in the 100yds behind Jean Woods who took silver. The senior men’s 3 mile was dominated by Newport Harriers, with the title going to P.Wallace, 2nd M.Pope, 3rd T.Wood, other wins for Harrier members came from G.Raybould Youth’s 100yds(11.0), A.Shewring Youths 880yds walk and the 4 x 100 (47.5), with the club’s ‘B’ team in 3rd. At the Monmouthshire County Championships for Junior men and Boys held in Panteg on May 26th, the club had two winners, Lyndon Bevan in the Junior men 1 mile (4.53.0) and John Lowther in the Junior men 1 mile walk having taken the senior title the week before. A Festival of Britain sports day was held at the club HQ at Kimberly Park on 16th June, with a meeting between Monmouthshire who won with 29pts from 2nd placed Gloucestershire 23pts and 3rd Somerset 5pts. The club had athletes in the 1 mile, where L.Bevan came 1st, and in the women’s match, R.Johnson was 1st in the 100yds from club-mate Mary Skinner, Mary went on to win the 220yds(29.5). On the same day the South Wales Argus 16 mile road-walking race took place, and the Harriers had to concede victory in the team event to Trowbridge by 10pts to 28pts. Newport’s team was 6th C.Carter, 7th JBF Morgan, 10th R.Spooner, 11th TA
Thomas, 13th L.Gillham, and 15th JN James. The Welsh AAA Junior championships were held on July 8th at Mountain Ash, and as usual Newport Harrier’s had a number of medal winners, there was only one champion, this was Ruth Johnson 100yds(12.5), J.Lowther picked a silver in the Junior men’s 1 mile walk, while L.Bevan took the bronze in the junior men’s 1 mile, in the 1 mile medley relay, the club also took bronze. The Welsh Schools championships were at Cardiff on 14th July, and John
Lowther broke the senior boy’s 1 mile walk Welsh record (6.56.6), and the middle
boys star G.Raybould did the sprint double winning the 100yd(10.6) and
220yds(23.8). Newport had a good number of winners with B.Hardwick in the H/J, L.Long
Junior men’s 880yds, G.Whitson Junior men’s 100yds and G.Raybould youths 100 &
220yds. Welsh champion R.Johnson took the 100yds from Harrier clubmate M.Miles.
During a match between South Wales & Monmouthsire AAA and a strong London AC (which LAC won), Mildren Miles won the Monmouthshire County Championship for the inter/women’s 100yds in 12.2. Newport’s walking section were in action at the Welsh RRWA 20 mile championships at Port Talbot, with Newport’s C.Carter taking the bronze medal as he led the club to the team title. The annual match between Monmouthshire and Glamorgan resulted in a win for Glamorgan with 215pts to 191pts, Newport the joint winners in the 3 mile, with P.Wallace and T.Woods sharing the same time of 16.22.2, and J.Lowther took the 1 mile walk for Junior men. August 6th, and a team of Harriers were taken to Merthyr Tydfil for a match between Treorchy AC, Roath Harriers and Merthyr Tydfil. Newport won both the men’s and women’s matches with the help of the following athletes, in the women’s team, A.Thompson, M.Skinner, M.Miles, R.Peek, R.Johnson, J.Walker, I.Hall, D.Gardner, B.Bale, CM Skinner and V.Smith and in the men’s, D.Ford, G.Maddern, D.Baulch, G.Whitson, M.Thomas, P.Wallace, J.Flook, J.Lowther, L.Long, RB.Hardwick, M.Hughes, T.Wood, T.Morgan, and D.Woodward. At the Welsh AAA Youths Championships held in Ebbw Vale on August 11th, G.Raybould the Welsh Schools champion won the 100yds(11.0) and the 220yds(24.2), and at the same meeting the Welsh AAA held their Senior men’s 6 mile event in which Paddy Wallace took the bronze medal. At the Welsh AAA match against England at the NAC, Newport, the club had only |