Alan Mead elected Club President for 2025/26

Anyone who has been at Belgrave for more than five minutes knows our current Membership Secretary, and now next Club President, Alan Mead. There is virtually nothing that Alan hasn’t done for the Club. A synopsis of his Belgrave career reads a little like a 19th Century history lesson. 

Alan was born in March 1944, three months before the WWII Normandy landings. He joined the Club in April 1958, aged 14, the same month that the Russians launched Sputnik 2 with Laika becoming the first dog in space. 

He was initially a sprinter and ran at the White City stadium in the days when the Club entered a Youth team for the AAA sprint relay. Eventually he moved up to 440y and 880y, competing mostly in the Southern League. 

He joined the Committee in 1962, aged 18, the same year as the Cuban Missile crisis. Needless to say, both events generated world-wide alarm.

He married his wife Pat four years later in 1966, the year England won the football World Cup - hence that well remembered and oft quoted line ’Some of the fans are in the church, they think it’s all over. It is now! 

Away from athletics, Alan became a Metropolitan Police Officer in 1967 and determined to continue his connection with athletics, he set a best 400m time of 50.9 when running for the Police (on a grass track!).

Alan and Pat temporarily moved to Australia in 1969 but fortunately for Belgrave they returned 2 years later in 1971, when England won the only seven match Ashes series, in Australia, 2:0. Alan had of course retained his Belgrave membership throughout.

Alan and his wife Patricia were inseparable, both having a passion for athletics, travelling to take part and watch events across Europe and the World. They met through athletics, Pat being a member of Selsonia Ladies AC before joining Belgrave in 1976 after they allowed female members. She set up the Women’s section and became the first female member in the first week when she and two other women began training from Belgrave Hall. She later became Rosenheim League Team Manager (the Club won every match and final for six years) and a graded track judge.

Alan’s daughter Hazel worked tirelessly alongside him throughout his years as Road and X/C Team Manager when the Club was sweeping the board. Hazel became a successful Rosenheim League Team Manager, even getting Dwain Chambers to turn out. She was also Membership Secretary, Kit Secretary and Southern League Team Manager.

Alan is, of course, a Life Member, in every sense of the word. And he has been President before, in 1993/1994, so this is all old hat to Alan. He became the first Committee Chairman for a full 16 years from 1994, the year that the Channel Tunnel first opened, Amazon was founded and Oasis released their first album, Definitely Maybe. 

Alan was the Editor of the Club magazine the Belgravian, (three times) which later morphed into the Club website that, naturally, Alan set up in 2001, at the same time as the dot com bubble peaked and then burst. He is currently digitising every single Club magazine since its inception in 1925. He created and continues to build a website giving historical and statistical information about Belgrave Harriers – the aim one day being to publish it in book form.

Alan has been a frequent Committee member and was Club Secretary for four years from 2011-15, during which time we had Obama’s first term in office, the death of Osama Bin Laden and Russia’s annexation of the Crimea. 

After his wife became a certified Track Judge, Alan didn’t want to be left out, so he became a graded Timekeeper. And of course, subsequently Chief Timekeeper

In terms of athletics team management, Alan has been Junior Track Captain, Senior Track Captain, Southern League Team Manager, British League Team Manager, Veteran’s Team Manager (naturally the Vets team won the SCVAC T&F League) and he became the Road and X/C Team Manager in the 1990’s when it was going through a particularly barren patch. Along with one or two other stellar members around at that time, including his daughter Hazel, over the next 17 years Alan saw the Men’s team win virtually everything that was available to be won.

Over Cross Country Belgrave won the South of Thames Championships seven times (including three years in a row in the days when a winning team had all of its team members barred from taking part ever again), the Surrey County Championships, the Surrey League, the Southern Cross-Country Relays and the National Cross-Country Championships.

On the road the Club won the National 6-Stage seven times, the National 12-Stage five times, the National 5k once, the National 10k twice, the Half Marathon three times, the Southern 12 Stage seven times, the Southern 6 Stage six times and the Surrey Road Relay seven times. Under Alan's stewardship the Belgrave Men’s team was without question the most successful in the country. And we think we’re going through a purple patch now!

Not content with his sterling work for his beloved Belgrave, Alan was President of the South of Thames CCA 2004-2005. He has been a long-time member of the National Union of Track & Field Statisticians. He produced results for the Surrey County Road Relays for about six years, organized several Surrey Championship 5k Road Races and created and continues to maintain SOTCCA website.

Alan also had a spell as Hall Manager. In 2011, the Club received a grant from Sport England which they matched out of club funds to refurbish Belgrave Hall. This included expanding the gym, redesigning the upstairs studio and replacing the kitchen. Of course, it was Alan who project managed the work. As Hall Manager, Alan organised the lettings, providing an increased income for the club which has continued to support athletics activities to this day.

Three years ago, Alan was warmly welcomed back onto the club’s Committee, volunteering to take over the vacant role of Membership Secretary. Alan is always a calming, balanced influence when others may be inclined to lose a little focus. He has time for everyone and as with every other job he has undertaken for the club, Alan has been organised, efficient and a delight to work with. It is with great pleasure that we confirm Alan Mead as our Club President for the 2025/26 season.