On September 6th 1967 a marriage was arranged between Hercules AC (HAC) and Wimbledon AC (WAC) to form Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club.

Hercules Athletic Club began as Hercules Ladies Athletic Club, which was formed in Streatham on October 4th 1933 for ‘the furtherance of womanhood in athletics’. Their colours were navy blue and scarlet. The word Ladies was dropped from the name in February 1936 when male athletes were admitted.
World War II curtailed activities, but it says much for the spirit of early members that a club without the roots and traditions of others was soon revitalised after hostilities ceased. By the mid-50s HAC could hold its own with most clubs and Noel Fonteyn became the first of a steady flow of male internationals. Success continued at individual and team level in Championships in a wide range of disciplines.

Wimbledon Athletic Club was first formed in 1938 but also foundered when war broke out. It was re-formed in 1953 following the opening of the new £8000 running track at Wimbledon Park the previous year by former Olympic hurdler Lord Burghley. On 20 January 60 people attended a meeting in Wimbledon Town Hall, chaired by the Mayor Sir Cyril Black, at which a committee was set up, including Arthur Whitehead (founder of Lauriston Runners’ Club), Jack Crump (British Olympic Team Manager) and Tommy Robertson, the driving force in the early years. The original black and blue hoops on the club vests were changed to blue and yellow.

Over the next five years WAC used the new facilities at Wimbledon Park and built up a nucleus of track and field athletes but regularly lost distance runners to other clubs. In 1958, however, a cross-country section was formed and Arthur Whitehead generously allowed the club to use Lauriston as its winter HQ. WAC went from strength to strength and produced a sprinkling of male and female internationals, but in 1967 when team results began to slip, the club entered into the merger with HAC.

The newly formed Hercules Wimbledon AC married the scarlet of HAC and the yellow of WAC to form the Club colours we know today, and immediately enjoyed team success in cross country (including second and third in the National Championships) and road running (including two wins in the Southern Road Relays), while admission was gained to the Men’s National (now British) Athletics League in 1971.

Simon Ingall

Tributes

John Sullivan 1936 - 2024

Long-standing members of the Club and the athletics world were saddened to hear of the passing of John Sullivan on 30 May. He was 88. A member of the celebrated middle distance teams of the late sixties and seventies, he later coached our Chairman, Dave Clarke, throughout his brilliant racing career, and it is a mark of the strength of their relationship that in John's last years when his health failed Dave devoted much of his time to caring for him.

This is Dave's tribute:

John took up running while in West Germany where he was based for 18 months as part of his National Service. Representing the army, he discovered that he was quite a useful middle-distance runner, getting the chance to run 1500m in the Berlin Olympic stadium, much to his delight.

On his return to London, he initially joined Queens Park Harriers AC which was close to where he was living at that time. Once he moved to Roehampton, John joined Hercules Wimbledon AC in the late 1960s finishing third in the Surrey 1500m at Motspur Park in 1970,  running 3.51.2 and going on to represent the AAAs over this distance – which was equivalent to gaining an England vest in those days.

Along with most of the top local distance runners, John trained out of  Lauriston Cottege where he benefitted from training with such athletes as Bob and Dave Holt, John Roberts, Mick Kortenray and Steve Badgery to name but a few.

He won the South of the Thames 5 miles XC championships in Brighton and was a regular member of the Hercules Wimbledon distance running squad throughout the 70’s. One of his proudest memories was running the last leg of the Southern 12 Stage road relay for the victorious HW team in 1972.

I first met John on the evening of Saturday 3 January 1976 in the Swan pub at the end of Lauriston road, Wimbledon. He congratulated me on finishing second in the Surrey U20 XC Championships that afternoon and then told me I should have won. I came up with numerous excuses one of them being that I did not have a coach. He offered to coach me and thus began a 48 year friendship.

John was an exceptional coach who took me from an U20 county standard athlete to a senior national champion both on the track over 5000m and over the country. His coaching group became a focal point for many of the top athletes and club runners in the area and included such exceptional athletes as John Gladwin (Commonwealth 1500m silver medallist) and Grenville Tuck (international track and country representative).

He coached me from 1976 until I retired from international athletics in 1995. In some ways the fact that he retired from full time work in the Chemical industry in the early 1990s was a blessing for me as he then took up sports injury rehabilitation and became so good he not only kept me going for many more years but was also sought out by athletes such as Mo Farah who had heard about his skills.

John was a thoughtful and single-minded man who did not suffer fools gladly. He was willing to help anyone with an interest in athletics and spent a great deal of time trying to improve his coaching knowledge, rising to become one of the very few Level Four coaches in the Country.

We remained firm friends right up to his passing.

David Clarke

Pete Mulholland, 2 June1939 - 27 March 2020

All of us at Hercules Wimbledon were bereft at the passing of Pete Mulholland and overwhelmed at the tributes and messages that continued to pour in from the entire athletics community. Pete was a lifelong member of our Club, joining the former Wimbledon AC in the early sixties before the merger with Hercules AC to form Hercules Wimbledon in 1967.  No mean athlete, he was a member of the Senior Men’s team which won the Southern 12-stage Road Relay Championships in 1969 – but he will be remembered above all else as the life and soul of our Club.

He was Cross Country Secretary for fifty years and Club President from 1983 to 1985. He famously edited the quarterly magazine, Team Spirit, and the weekly newsletter, which was the highlight of many a Club member’s week, reflecting Pete’s warmth and wit, his extraordinary knowledge of our sport, and his uncanny ability to pluck results from obscure parts of the world if they involved a Hercules athlete, past or present. 

In 2014 his volunteering was recognised at the England Athletics London Region Awards. in 2015 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for his services to athletics, and the following year he served as President of Surrey County Athletic Association. However it is as ‘Mr Hercules Wimbledon’ that we will treasure our memories of him: the first person to welcome new members to the Club, he continued to inspire and encourage, whatever their level. He rarely missed a training session, race, event, or social gathering; never forgot a face or a pb. Many of our athletes might never have realised their love of athletics, had it not been for Pete, always on the lookout for untapped talent, most famously at the end of the funnel at the Wimbledon Common parkruns, where he helped out every Saturday morning.

It is hard to imagine anyone who could inspire such true affection and admiration from youngsters and contemporaries alike, not only at Hercules Wimbledon but way beyond. Everyone knew Pete. Everyone loved him. And we all miss him so much.

Sheila White

To see more tributes to Pete go to the News section (March 28 2020, April 3 2020 and October 1 2020)

Ray O’Donoghue 1941-2018

Tributes poured in from Club members to photographer and former athlete Ray O'Donoghue, summed up by the sentiments of Hercules legends Bob and Dave Holt, whose friendship with Ray went back many years. ‘He was one of the nicest folk you could wish to meet’, says Dave, while his brother Bob adds:’ He was a lovely man who, like his fellow countryman the late Pat O'Connor (Belgrave & Lauriston), went out of his way to help people and never said a bad word about anyone. He will be sadly missed’.

Ray’s photographs have charted the history of Hercules Wimbledon from the 1970s, immortalising individual and team performances on the track, field and road, in the rain, snow and mud, or capturing the loneliness of the long distance runner silhouetted against an evening sky. Many of his photographs are framed in the Clubhouse, and the collages of his pictures at the club’s winter base, Lauriston Cottage, are a treasure trove of memories which have triggered stories and inspired new generations of athletes down the years. 

Ray’s own running career began in 1960. He competed second claim for HW, and ran over every distance from 800m to the marathon (he completed 18 of them). 

On his way to the 1979 New York Marathon he found himself on the same plane as Chris Brasher who was on a fact-finding mission with a view to staging a similar event in London. “The rest”, as Ray said, “is history.” Fittingly Ray's last major race was in the London Marathon at the age of 43. 

He was a glutton for training. Even with a full time job and a family he would sometimes train two or three times a day, clocking up over 100 miles a week. ‘I was right up there with the Kenyans!’ he joked. He was often to be seen in the colourful running kit that he and his wife Sandra made from home and sold to athletes and clubs all over the country. Former 400m record holder David Jenkins was a fan, and even wore a pair of Ray-and-Sandra designed shorts in the 1976 Olympics. 

Always ready with a funny story or some good advice for young runners, Ray's humour masked the insecurities of growing up in care and the acute sadness he couldn't shake off after Sandra died of cancer in 2004. ‘I never stop missing her, not even for a minute’, he confessed. 'Her loss is one reason I have to keep busy. I feel a constant need for new challenges’.

A qualified psychiatric nurse, his early portraits of life in a psychiatric hospital formed part of an exhibition focusing on mental health in 2006 and he included many of his experiences in his memoir, Tears on my Pillow, published the following year. An occasional poet and decent crooner, it was athletics photography that he threw himself into in his later years, and his legacy of still photographs and videos spans hundreds of events.

Thanks for all the memories Ray. We will miss you, and remember you through your wonderful pictures.

Sheila White

Below: a selection of Ray’s photographs spanning the years. Top: Liam White spearheads the charge in a Surrey League cross country match in 2011; and below, Martin Miller silhouetted against the sky in 2006.

David Littlewood, MBE, 1937-2014

The athletics summer of 2014 was overshadowed by the death, on March 16th, of our club President, David Littlewood, MBE, aged 76. Tributes were paid from across the world of athletics to one of our sport’s best known and highly qualified officials. The litany of David’s achievements is extraordinary. He officiated at three Olympic Games, 26 World Championships, 5 Commonwealth Games and 4 European Championships – “plus a few Athletics World Cups thrown in!”

Inevitably when you spoke to David he was about to pack his bags for yet another international athletics meeting or conference somewhere in the world, as he was a long standing member of the IAAF Technical Committee and the International Panel of Photo Finish Judges, as well as Chairman of the British Technical Officials’ Committee.  The English Schools’ Athletic Association (ESAA) was particularly close to his heart (he himself finished fourth in the long jump for the London team in the ESAA Championships during the fifties), and he was first Chairman, and then the Hon. Secretary of the organisation. Of all the tributes to David, one of the most heartfelt appears on their website accompanied by pictures and captions, thanking him for everything he did to help provide world class competition for youngsters in the sport:

“David had been the ESAA Hon Secretary for 22 years, and was quite probably the nicest person one would ever have the privilege to meet. His love of, knowledge of, and dedication to athletics, and his boundless energy in promoting the fun of the sport has not just touched the lives of countless thousands of children, but changed them for ever. David was a highly skilled technical official, but was never officious. For him, athletics was a sport for fun, and he followed it all over the world”.

David was the men’s race referee for the London Marathon for nearly thirty years, and in between everything else in his busy schedule he was responsible for updating and producing the UKA Rule Book every two years. Fittingly, he celebrated his 73rd birthday in 2010 by receiving an MBE from the Queen, for his services to athletics.

At Hercules Wimbledon, however, we remember him as a friend and colleague, a man with a wealth of stories, an eagle eye for detail and an astounding recall for names, results and times. Above all, he was dedicated to athletics at grass roots level, and to our Club, of which he was a lifelong member, having joined the former Hercules AC as a teenager, when he was not only a good long jumper, but a sprinter, regularly competing over 100 yards, 220 yards and 440 yards. He went on to become Treasurer and held that position for an amazing 43 years before being elected President. Never mind the rain, snow or bitter wind, when Hercules Wimbledon was hosting a cross country league match or road race, David would happily turn out for hours on end to help officiate; he was a regular on the judges stand for home matches, and always ready to help, advise and support rookies to the world of officiating.

Without fail he handed out trophies and awards at the Club’s AGM, encouraging everyone for the coming track and field season; and as ever he was looking forward to being in the photo finish room for the Young Athletes Meeting in April, especially as it was being staged at Wimbledon Park for the first time, after 33 years at Crystal Palace. Sadly he died only weeks before the event took place.

The Young Athletes Meeting was dear to his heart and for the 30th anniversary of the event in 2011, we included a question and answer session with David in the programme. A few snippets are given here, which give a flavour of his long involvement with, and love of, athletics:

You are very involved with the English Schools Championships… which talented athletes do you remember spotting, who have gone on to become stars?
1979 was a special year. Held at Nottingham in good weather I remember saying to a colleague that a certain athlete would become a world beater – as I watched Steve Cram winning the Senior Boys 1500m! I was in Helsinki 4 years later to see him crowned as World 1500m Champion.

In the years that you have been officiating, what is the most memorable race you have seen?
I suppose the most surprising for me was the Women’s 400m final at the Beijing Olympics (in 2008). Being responsible for photo finish in the ‘Bird’s Nest’ I could see the athletes through the window with about 40m to go to the finish and I could see that perhaps Christine Ohuruogu might win a medal. I then had to look at the screen and wait for the photo finish picture to appear, and up popped Christine in first place! I thought at first that the operator must have missed the first two – and was delighted to see the other athletes appear on the screen to prove my fears were misplaced!

What are the closest sprint finishes you have seen?
Most memorable would have to be the final of the 100m for Women in the World Championship in Stuttgart in 1993, where Merlene Ottey lost the title by a fraction of a second to Gail Devers, which still remains the closest finish I have been involved with.  It took a long time for us to agree the result, and the photo was the source of interest and debate for many years afterwards.  Just as dramatic was the finish of the Women’s Olympic 100m final in Beijing. The race was won by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, but I had to send an urgent message to the organisers that I was going to declare a dead-heat for second place between Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, and could they make sure they had a spare silver medal handy for the presentation!

Of the legendary athletes that you have met, who are the ones who have left the greatest impression on you, and why?
I suppose two stand out. I had the pleasure of meeting and dining with the incomparable Czech athlete Emil Zátopek on more than one occasion.  Who else is going to win the 5,000m, 10,000m and Marathon all in the same Olympic Games? (Zátopek achieved this in 1952). A charming and modest man, he seemed more pleased that I recognised his wife Dana (an Olympic gold medallist in the javelin at the same Olympics) and asked for her autograph, than the fact that I knew what he had achieved! Matching this was spending a weekend in the company of Fanny Blankers-Koen from the Netherlands – Fanny who won 4 golds in the 1948 Olympics and wasn’t able to find time to compete in the high jump for which she was also the world record holder! It was her great sense of humour and sense of fun that remains with me.  We had so many laughs together and I treasure those two days.

For sheer performance, who is your favourite athlete of all time?
My favourite? The man who always looked as if he was enjoying himself, a beaming smile all over his face and a master over so many distances, accumulating world records and titles as he went.  Who else but Haile Gebrselassie?

David, you will be very much missed by all of us.

Sheila White