J-Club History 2

I found your website by accident and wish to compliment you on it.
I competed for the club during the early 80's and put down many of my successes in life & sport to the foundation lain at Park Hall.
In 1983 I went to the ESAA Champs in Plymouth and there were 6 athletes from Oswestry in the team. One runner, a friend at Oswestry School called Dave Radford came 6th in the intermediate final of the 100m that year. I think he had a PB of 10.6 in the 100m (from University) (he did 10.9 when in the VI form) and 21.9 in the 200m done for Oswestry at the AAAs at Crystal Palace in 1985.

Our coach was John Evans who still lives on Lower Minster and he produced a number of Welsh Internationals during the 80's & 90's
Joanna Evans - Throws (his daughter)
Phillip Jones - 100/200m,
Anne Evison - 400/800m,
David Radford - 100/200m,
Ian Roberts - Long Jump (me),
I think there was a thrower (javelin) called Emily? who also represented Wales too. (See below Ed)

Oswestry Olympian Gemma Weetman at the 2004 British Schools International with her England International Team Manager - Ian Roberts

I went on to compete as a full Welsh & UK international in the Long Jump during the 1990s. I have a PB of 7m57 although my best ever for Oswestry was 6m77 in Hereford in 1989. I went to University in Bedford to study PE, competed for Bedford until 1991, then competed for Shaftesbury Barnet in the British League until 1994 and then joined Cardiff who I competed for until 1996 when a knee operation put paid to aspirations to keep going. I then became Head of PE at a school in Letchworth. I also coached athletics & was Hertfordshire Schools team manager at the English Schools.
I hope that this information is of use.
Many thanks
Ian Roberts

As an update (June 2004)
Ian is now the English Schools International Track & Field Team Manager, and has recently qualified as a Level 4 performance coach in Triple Jump. He has also moved on from teaching PE, instead now being a senior lecturer in Physical Education and admissions tutor at De Montfort University, Bedford. He says "I am very lucky, because I know that I would not have achieved anything close to what I have, if I had not spent so much time at Park Hall, laying an important foundation in sport, ultimately becoming my career. I always look out for Shropshire Athletes and wonder how many are Oswestry athletes.

(Well yes there was a thrower called Emily Steel, now Emily Vaughan, who got to the English Schools 3 times winning javelin gold twice in succession, which means she won gold in a junior year. Emily then went on to National/International level. She still holds the Under 15 Girls Shropshire YA League Javelin record at 35.62m & Shropshire Schools Champs record at 39m46 - Ed.)
14/6/2004

If you would like to add to our club history we would like to hear from you. Perhaps you were a Olympian some years ago, perhaps you have photos of the track in it's un-cared for era or even when used by the Park Hall Army camp,or any other information you would like to pass on. We could add your contributions to our website. - Keith

Oswestry Olympians	*Juniors* Club History 2
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I found your website by accident and wish to compliment you on it. I competed for the club during the early 80's and put down many of my successes in life & sport to the foundation lain at Park Hall. In 1983 I went to the ESAA Champs in Plymouth and there were 6 athletes from Oswestry in the team. One runner, a friend at Oswestry School called Dave Radford came 6th in the intermediate final of the 100m that year. I think he had a PB of 10.6 in the 100m (from University) (he did 10.9 when in the VI form) and 21.9 in the 200m done for Oswestry at the AAAs at Crystal Palace in 1985.
Our coach was John Evans who still lives on Lower Minster and he produced a number of Welsh Internationals during the 80's & 90's Joanna Evans - Throws (his daughter) Phillip Jones - 100/200m, Anne Evison - 400/800m, David Radford - 100/200m, Ian Roberts - Long Jump (me), I think there was a thrower (javelin) called Emily? who also represented Wales too. (See below Ed)
Oswestry Olympian Gemma Weetman at the 2004 British Schools International with her England International Team Manager - Ian Roberts	I went on to compete as a full Welsh & UK international in the Long Jump during the 1990s. I have a PB of 7m57 although my best ever for Oswestry was 6m77 in Hereford in 1989. I went to University in Bedford to study PE, competed for Bedford until 1991, then competed for Shaftesbury Barnet in the British League until 1994 and then joined Cardiff who I competed for until 1996 when a knee operation put paid to aspirations to keep going. I then became Head of PE at a school in Letchworth. I also coached athletics & was Hertfordshire Schools team manager at the English Schools. I hope that this information is of use. Many thanks Ian Roberts
As an update (June 2004) Ian is now the English Schools International Track & Field Team Manager, and has recently qualified as a Level 4 performance coach in Triple Jump. He has also moved on from teaching PE, instead now being a senior lecturer in Physical Education and admissions tutor at De Montfort University, Bedford. He says "I am very lucky, because I know that I would not have achieved anything close to what I have, if I had not spent so much time at Park Hall, laying an important foundation in sport, ultimately becoming my career. I always look out for Shropshire Athletes and wonder how many are Oswestry athletes.