Swansea Harriers Athletics Club
Encyclopedia
Swansea Harriers Athletics Club is an athletics club based at Swansea University
Swansea University
Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...

 Athletics Centre in Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

History

Although athletics has taken place in Swansea since at least the late 19th century it was not until 1962 that the current Swansea Harriers was formally established. Since then the club has produced Great Britain and Welsh international athletes in age groups from junior to senior and won Welsh and British titles at Club level. The Harriers were voted "UK Athletics Club of the Year in 2009" and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in London Olympic Year 2012.

The Club currently has about 600 members and participates in Track & Field, Cross Country, Road Running, Race Walking and Fell Running.

Club Members

  • Philippa Roles
    Philippa Roles
    Philippa Kate Roles is a Welsh discus thrower.Born in Neath, she studied at Neath Port Talbot College and is resident in London. Roles works for the train operating company Southern as a train driver on the London Metro services servicing South London...

     - Olympic discus thrower (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008)
  • David Greene
    David Greene
    David Norman Greene is a former American football quarterback of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia....

     - World Championships - 400m Hurdles Finalist (Berlin 2009)
  • Ian Hamer - Olympic 5000m (Barcelona 1992)
  • Hayley Tullett
    Hayley Tullett
    Hayley Tullett is a Welsh middle distance runner mainly competing over 1500 metres. Her main claim to fame is the bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships...

     - World Championships - 1500m bronze medalist (2003) and Olympics (2000 and Athens 2004)

Competitions

In track and field the Club competes in the British Athletics League
British Athletics League
The British Athletics League is a track and field male team's competition, the most important in the United Kingdom for history and number of teams....

and the UK Women's League and the Welsh Senior League. Junior athletes compete in the Welsh Junior League, the National Young Athletes League and the National Junior League as well as regional and national championships.

In Cross Country all age groups take part in the Gwent Cross Country League and regional and national championships while senior athletes also take part in the West Glamorgan Cross Country League.

In Road Running the Club takes part in the National 12 Stage (Men) and 6 Stage (Women) Road Relays in Sutton Park, Birmingham as well as the 6/4 Stage Relays in October. Athletes take part in road races across the UK, as well as national and regional championships and the London Marathon. The Club also enters a masters team in the annual Welsh Castles Road Relay held annually in June.

Training

Training takes place on most evenings, with the main Club nights being Tuesday and Thursday. The Club is based at the athletics track at Sketty Lane, Swansea University and also utilises the adjoining indoor athletics facility.

Endurance athletes utilise Swansea Bay with sessions taking place at Swansea Beach, Singleton Park, Clyne Valley, Swansea promenade as well as longer weekend runs to the Gower.
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