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www.belgraveharriers.com |
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JOHN JEFFERY 1944–2004 |
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It is with the deepest regret that we have to announce the death of John Jeffery, Past President of Belgrave Harriers and Joint Manager of our British League Team. John Jeffery became a Belgrave Harrier in 1992, January 20th to be precise, but was part of the Belgrave scene as far back as 1963. As a 19 year-old, John came to live south of the Thames for the first time to become a Metropolitan Police officer. He had been a member of Southgate A.C. in North London. As a police officer in ‘L’ Division, he fell in with one of the hardest working group of middle-distance runners in the south-east, all of them police officers and forming part of a formidable track & field team – the Metropolitan Police A.A.C. Among them, Andy Norman was a 440 yards man who was turning his talents towards coaching and team management, John Backley (father of Steve, Britain’s champion spearman) ran half-miles and Dave Prior was a redoubtable competitor over 1 mile and beyond. John often trained at Battersea Park and it was not long before Tom Carter, with his own squad of runners working out at Battersea, approached him with a view to signing him up. John was interested but fully committed to the Metropolitan Police team. He promised Tom that “one day” he would join. The intervening years saw John blossom as a middle-distance runner. He became British Police Champion at 400m, 800m, 1500m and cross-country. He represented the Southern Counties and A.A.A. and set personal bests of 49.6 for 400m, 1:50.2 for 800m, 3:49.8 for 1500m, 49:50 for 10 miles – which he regarded as probably his best ever run over any distance – and even ran a marathon, towards the end of his racing days, in 2:36. He remained close to our Club, always prepared to spend a bit of time with anyone looking for advice on running and training – and for a while entered into a role of official Belgrave coach at Battersea until, during lean times in the ’70s, we found we had very few middle-distance track runners left who wanted coaching! He had a fine athletic career by any standard but John was one of that rare breed who continued to pour his talent and experience into the sport when his own running days had passed. He became the Southern Counties Administrator, a post he held for six years. He took on roles as English and British Team Manager, travelling all over the globe. He coached; he judged; he organised. Was there any aspect of our sport not tackled by John. True to his word, when his Metropolitan Police days were over, John became a Belgravian. As usual, he was not one to do things by halves and becoming a Belgravian, for him, meant taking on responsibility. As Leo Coy, highly successful joint British League team manager, stepped aside to return to his native Ireland, John walked right into the breach. Leo and Bill Laws had taken our track & field team on a white-knuckle ride from Southern League to the very top of the British League. It would take no ordinary man to fill Leo’s shoes – but John was far from ordinary. All we can say is that the combination of Bill and John was probably one of the toughest partnerships in our sport and between them they consolidated our position as Britain’s top male track & field team. We re-organised our club administration: John was in there giving support. He became a member of our Committee and one of our key men in “Public Relations & Sponsorship”. From time to time as governing bodies and administrators of our sport backed themselves from one corner into another, John was approached with offers of administrative positions in Athletics but apart from making sure that he found time to work on the London Marathon team for a couple of hectic months every year, he dedicated himself to Belgrave affairs. He had become an integral part of the Belgrave management team and packed as much hard work for the Club into his days as was humanly possible. He was elected President of Belgrave Harriers 2000-2001. Our condolences go to John’s family. ARM |
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