LEEDS CITY ATHLETIC CLUB

 

TRACK AND FIELD

ALL TIME BEST PERFORMANCES

2008 REORGANISATION

 

The All-Time Ranking lists first began to be compiled, by John Lunn, in the 1970s, at first on the basis of the best 20 performances per event, and later expanded to the best 25.  During the 1980s the Lists were allowed to lapse (John was ‘otherwise occupied’ at the time), and as a result there are a lot of gaps from those years.  In the mid-1990s Glen Reddington ‘resurrected’ the Lists, and did a considerable amount of research to bring them up to date; in about 1998 John resumed working on them, and has since done further historical research, which has filled a great number of gaps and confirmed that many of the performances of which details (such as date and place) had not originally been kept were in fact authentic.  All performances where full details are given have hard evidence (results sheets, press reports, etc.) to authenticate them.

 

From the beginning the Lists were presented in standard age-groups for Men/Boys and Women/Girls. The "standard" events for each age-group were defined as those normally contested in that age-group's League competitions. Non-standard events, or events which once took place on a regular basis, have also been ranked, but most of these have never raised the full 25 performances.  The ‘Senior’ list in fact is an ‘all-age’ ranking which includes performances by athletes in all age-groups; their age-group at the time is shown in brackets.  All performances identified here are believed to be the best by athletes while a member of Leeds City A.C.  All equal performances are listed alphabetically.

 

In the early 21st century John noted that many meritorious performances have ’vanished’ from the Lists as faster times have superseded them.  For most forms of statistics this would be normal, but the Lists are also part of the ongoing history of the Club, and he felt they should reflect this.  In 2008, therefore, he began to revise the Lists against permanent standards which represent a ‘good Club athlete’ performance.  He worked out what he thought were such marks, discussed them with interested coaches, athletes and Club members, and then checked to see how many extra performances this would involve. 

 

He expected to find a degree of imbalance between events, but was surprised to find that this was less marked than he expected; the largest number of extra performances in any ‘standard’ event at the start of the 2008 season was thirteen.  He had expected the longest Lists would appear in the  Senior Men’s middle-distance events; this has proved only partly to be true, and the Lists with 35 or more names in them cover a much wider range.  This has encouraged him to go ahead with the reorganisation.

 

In these folders the events are laid out as follows

 

1)         A Table of Standards, explained below, is included in each folder.

 

2)         Each age-group from Seniors to Under-11s is presented separately on different-coloured paper, followed by Veterans’ events and Obsolete Events, which are presented slightly differently.

 

3)         The Standard Events for each age-group are presented first; these are followed by Non-Standard events that have a fairly complete List (say, at least 15 performances), and finally the ‘Short Files’ of events where there are fewer recorded performances.

 

Most of the current Standards are intended to be permanent – i.e., all performances bettering the Standard will be listed, irrespective of the number involved.  The Table of Standards shows these in RED. However, this is not true of some events, for a number of reasons.  The ‘non-standard’ events are in most cases not staged as often, and the best athletes often don’t get a chance, or don’t wish, to do them; consequently even when 25 performances have been recorded the standard may be lower than equivalents.  Certain ‘standard’ events, notably the Women’s Pole Vault and Hammer, are recent innovations and are still developing.  The Women’s Under-20 Lists weren’t properly started until the National Junior League was formed in the 1990s, and as a result are weaker and have more gaps than they really should; and in a small number of events the specification of the implement used has changed, leading to a new List being needed.  (In these cases the ‘old’ List is preserved in the section called ‘Obsolete Events.’)  Where Standards have been set for these events they have been shown in PURPLE, and they are likely to be revised upwards at some point in the future.  On the individual event Lists these Standards are shown in italics.

 

Veterans’ events are divided into five-year age-groups; these are indicated by a code of a number indicating a ten-year age range (1 = 40-49, 2 = 50-59, etc) and the letters A and B dividing this into five-year sections.  Athletes may appear in several sections; the performance shown is the best achieved in the age-range indicated.  In this category the events are grouped rather than shown individually; a similar approach is used with the obsolete events, which are grouped by age as appropriate.

 

As yet there are no standards for Veterans; should any event in the future warrant their adoption, this will be done.  At present no Veterans’ list has the 15 performances required to ‘stand on its own.’  Similarly, Standards have not been set for very rarely-contested events in any age-group, though again these may be considered if enough performances arise.  In the Under-11 age-group Standards have only been set for the four events regularly contested in the West Yorkshire League.

 

John Lunn is aware that there are still a large number of gaps which exist, mainly due to lack of information about older performances; research is continuing to try and fill these wherever possible.  Since these Lists were first printed, a considerable amount of research has filled a lot of gaps in dates and places, and added a large number of performances.  The Lists now include all performances listed in the Yorkshire Post and Evening Post from 1970 to 2003, in Athletics Weekly from October 1967 to December 1997, and the Skyrac Express from September 1967 to September 1979; John is aware of all performances (he thinks) from 1998 onwards.  More recently the collection of material for the Northern Athletics Archive at West Yorkshire Archive services has added a great amount of information.  The current revision is leading to all previous sources being re-checked to identify performances within the Standards but below the ‘Top 25’.  Any information, or any subsequent performance which would rank in these Lists, will be gratefully received.

 

 

John can be contacted on lunnrun@fsmail.net, or by telephone on 0113 2630622.

 

 

 

ABBREVIATIONS

 

 

 

A       - Above 1000m altitude.      

C       - Cinder track/surface.

G       - Grass track

L       - Believed best legal performance.       

?       - Not confirmed, performance, name, venue, date or composition of team.

w       - Wind assisted performance measured by wind-gauge.

(?w)  - Performance with following wind, no wind-gauge present.

i         - Indoor (where not the norm).      

o       - Outdoor (where not the norm).

y        - Conversion from Imperial distance (track events)

m      - In multi-event competition.          

Italic  - Not a UK citizen.

^^          - First of several identical performances