Happy 90th Birthday Barrie Saunders 3rd December 2022
Barrie is one of our most experienced and still one of the most enthusiastic athletics officials and will be celebrating his 90th birthday at the Met League cross country fixture at Uxbridge.
Barrie started officiating when asked to help on field events at a meeting in 1975 and went on to be a highly qualified field and endurance (road and cross country) official. Barrie officiates at many events throughout the year, particularly since retiring from work in 1997. He spent more than 20 years as TVH Subscriptions Secretary from 1964 to 1986 and has been one of our trustees since 1989. He was President of the Middlesex County Athletics Association in 1985 after many years on the committee.
Barrie was born in Hendon, Middlesex in 1932 and after living in Wales as a child war evacuee (his father was Welsh) returned to London and took up running in 1951 while on national service with the RAF, finishing 2nd in his first race that year to a Sale Harriers athlete. Barrie joined TVH aged 19 in May 1952, competing as a middle distance and endurance athlete and was coached by Alec D White from 1955.
Barrie competed for Wales on three occasions, twice in cross country events and once on the track. He competed on the track over 880 yards, I mile, 2 miles and 3 miles and on the road over various distances including the Windsor to Chiswick marathon in 1964 (which he ran in 2:45). Barrie’s best time for the mile was 4:17.8 and for 3 miles 14:16.6. At the National cross country championships he was in the TVH teams that finished 2nd in 1956, 3rd in 1957 and 2nd in 1958.
Something that Barrie misses from his earlier years as a club member is the TVH club championships, which were big events in track & field, road and cross country.
Barrie is pictured below (2nd from left) with other leading club officials in the event programme for a 100 x 1 mile relay at West London Stadium (as it was then) in September 1976.
