Olympic/European Champions Will Present Prizes at Presentation Evening on March 26th

Ann Packer (Left - light blue top) 1964 Olympic Gold Medallist at 800 Metres Pictured With Mary Rand also A Olympic Gold Medallist.....

Ann Packer (maiden name) was a athlete who competed in the sprints events including the hurdles and also the long jump!!!

Ann has won a huge collection of medals at all major championships which any athlete would be proud of.

Ann  won medals at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in the 4 x 100 metre team gaining a silver medal and again at the European Championships in the same year with a silver medal (4 x 100 metre). 

Ann broke the Olympic record for the 800 metres with a time of 2.01.1 to gain her gold medal, only the second British women to win an Olympic Gold medal.   Fellow athlete Mary Rand (pictured above in black) beat Ann by being the first British women to win an Olympic Gold six days earlier!!!!  Ann also broke the world record for the 800 metres as well.

At the same Olympic Games (1964) in Japan, Mary won a second medal in the 400 metres, just missing out on a the gold medal by an agonising .02 seconds!!! to gain the silver medal who was beaten by Betty Cuthbert who set a new Olympic record for the event. Amazingly, Ann stopped her athletics career at the young age of 22!!!!!!!! just after the Olympic Games...

Ann then married Robbie Brightwell who also competed at Olympic level who is featured below....

Robbie Brightwell was a 400 metre runner who again won medals at all the major championships at a very young age. 

Robbie competed in the 1962 European Championships in Belgrade and won the Gold Medal in the 400 metres.   This was a stunning achievement and Robbie continued to shine at this event where he gained a silver medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay team.

Later that year he gained a silver medal in the Commonwealth games in Melbourne, Australia, where he was just pipped to the Gold medal by George Kerr of Jamaica.  Again, gaining a silver medal in the 4 x 400 metre relay team.

Two years later at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan Robbie came fourth in the 400 metres final and once again gained an excellent silver medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay team.  Robbie ran the race of his life according to the British Press, where he picked up the baton in fourth place and ran a blistering lap of 44.8 seconds.  The Americans gained the gold, however, all the three teams of America, Great Britain and Trinidad all broke the old world record!!!

Robbie retired after the games and married Ann Packer who also retired too!!!

Andy Carter who is one of the middle distance coaches at the club will also be presenting prizes.  Andy was a 800 metre athlete who again won medals at major championships. 

Andy gained a superb bronze medal at the 1971 European Championships in Helsinki in Finland with a time of 1.46 minutes. 

In 1974 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Andy was a member of the 4 x 400 metre relay team which gained the silver medal in a time of 3.06 minutes, where Kenya won the gold medal.

In 1972 at the Munich Olympic Games Andy came 6th with a time of 1.46.9 minutes and fulfilled his dream of competing in an Olympic final with pride for his country. 

Andy also held the British Record for 800 metres for many, many years before Seb Coe (GB) who later went on to become double Olympic champion broke Andy`s British Record!!!!