Club History
Club History - Founded May 1982- An overview to 2010
In the late 70s and early 80s there was a noted local race-walker called Roger Mills, who was a member of Ilford AC. He raced in the Tokyo Olympics where he finished in 10th place. He was a regular member of the UK squad. He won a Bronze medal in European Championships in Rome in 1974.
1974 European Championships Rome, Italy 3rd 20 km
1980 Olympic Games Moscow, Soviet Union 10th 20 km
1983 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 37th 20 km
About this time a "jogging" boom was turning into a "running" boom. Starting in the USA it quickly spread to the UK. The New York marathon was imitated by the London Marathon which started in 1981. In May 1982 Roger opened a running/sports shop in Wanstead High Street called....Athletic East. There was a well-known chain of shops in the USA called Athletic West, so we guess that this was East London's/the UK's answer. Roger's first shop was a tiny, narrow shop in the little parade just by the George Public house. It was from this shop, in 1982, that a group would meet on a Wednesday evening to go for a run and East London Runners was born, organised by Roger. The popularity grew so much that we moved to Wanstead Leisure Centre in about 1983/4, where we have been ever since.
The early to mid 1990's saw the Club at it's peak in terms of numbers with over 200 active members and 104 runners one Wednesday evening when the pre run meeting had to take place in the Centre's Gymnasium.
Today the membership is around 90 active members with an average of 40 running each Wednesday.
The Curtis Shield
Apart from 1984, when the Shield was first presented for the best performance by an East London Runner, when it was won by Lee Richardson, the Curtis Shield has always been awarded to the Club Person of the past year. In 1985 the award went to Trevor Cornell the Club's then Chairman. In 1986 it was awarded to Dick Pleasance for help that he gave to others, especially new members. In 1987 it was awarded to Steve Knott, who at the time was Club President. In 1988 it went to Mike Thatcham who was responsible for getting the Social side of ELR going. In 1989 Peter Cowup who was also Social Secretary won the award. The award went to Trevor Jason in 1990 for his work as Coach at Walthamstow Track. Trevor was the first to also win the Most Improved Runner award.In 1991 John White won the Shield for his work as Editor of the Club Magazine Runaround. John was Editor for abour 8 years.In 1992 Peter Cowup became the first person to win the Curtis Shield twice, this time as Club President. The award went to Simon Morgan in 1993, the Club's Chairman and youngest winner of the award at that time.
The Early Years
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The 1990's
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2000 to 2009
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2010
...............to follow