I love the existence and structure of the athletics club network in this country, and have been a club member almost continuously for close to forty years. I love putting on club colours and representing my club either as an individual or as part of a team, but I’m ashamed to say that I’ve rarely played a part in the organisation and behind the scenes activities which are needed to keep an athletic club functioning and flourishing. Sure, I’ve helped marshall races plenty of times, but have never allowed myself to be drawn into the world of organising and committee meetings, or become part of the structural hierarchy of a club. The harsh version of that is that I’m probably not a great team player, but at least it heightens my appreciation of the people without whom our clubs could not function.
The three clubs I’ve been a member of are all geographically very close, but have very distinctly different histories and identities. The three being Tonbridge AC, Tunbridge Wells Harriers and Paddock Wood AC.
I’ve written a few notes previously about my first club – Tonbridge. They are by some margin the longest established of the three, being formed in 1947, and have for many years been a well supported “traditional” athletics club. Sharing their excellent track and field facilities with Tonbridge school, they continue to attract the highest quality athletes from around the region who enjoy success at a national and international level.
My second club – Tunbridge Wells Harriers was very much borne out of the running boom that resulted from the staging of the first London Marathon in 1981. A small group who had trained for that race got together and set up a club – initially under the name Tunbridge Wells Runners. Surviving the early years without their own clubhouse, when I joined we met outside the Cross Keys pub in St Johns, before heading out for a weekly “burn up”. Later sharing use of TW rugby club from 1985, before moving to their current home at the Neville cricket ground in 2006. In 1997 the club membership voted to change it’s name from “runners” to “harriers”, partly perhaps to reflect the strong affiliation the club had developed with cross country running. More recently developing a strong triathlon identity, and without full track and field facilities, it provides a contrast to the strict athletics code at Tonbridge.
I joined my current club – Paddock Wood AC – about 4 years ago, and enjoy competing for them. Formed in the late 1980s by a group of like-minded athletics enthusiasts, many of whom were keen to create a club that their families could become a part of. Many of those founding members are still at the core of the club to this day and have grown a diverse and active membership, still strongly focussed on encouraging and developing young talent, but also competing widely across track and field athletics and distance cross country and road running. The club is based at a still developing track and field facility at Putlands in the town.
Athletics clubs are a microcosm of society, but I would suggest, possessing a higher percentage of good positive people in their ranks, many of whom have become friends and acquaintances down the years. We are lucky to have three such diverse clubs in such a small local area, and I feel proud and privileged to have represented all three at some point over the past forty years.
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