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Golden great is club's newest member
A LEGENDARY athlete has become the latest member of a famous South Tyneside athletics club.
Olympic gold medallist Sir John Walker visited Monkton Stadium, home of Jarrow and Hebburn Athletics Club, on Sunday, where he signed on the dotted line.
He was accompanied by wife Helen and fellow legend Steve Cram, 26 years after the two men competed on the same track when 'Jarrow Arrow' represented the club.
New Zealander Sir John is in the UK to support Cram's charity Coco, which raises money for children's projects in developing countries.
Now 58, Sir John was the first person to complete 100 sub-four-minute miles, running 135 in total. He was Olympic 1,500m champion in 1976.
In the same year, he set a 2,000m world record that would stand for nine years – when Cram beat it.
Sir John was also world mile record holder between 1975 and 1979, and the first to run under three minutes 50 seconds.
That record was eventuallybroken by Sebastian Coe, and again by Cram in 1985.
He retired from athletics in the early 1990s, and in 1996 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but still runs an equestrian shop near Auckland.
One of Sir John's sub-four-minute miles was at Monkton on September 9, 1984, shortly after the stadium opened.
However, this was towards the end of his career, and he lost to Cram, who was then at his peak. Jarrow's David Sharpe, then 17, was third.
Jarrow and Hebburn treasurer Tom Tweddell, who is writing a book about the 73- year-old club, was delighted to meet the legendary Kiwi.
He said: "We made him a member. He and his wife filled in the forms, so if he ever does a 136th sub-four-minute mile it will be as a Jarrow athtlete."
Mr Tweddell could not resist some fun at the expense of his friend Cram, when he said: "It was a thrill for everyone to see a legend like Sir John Walker visiting the stadium. Our newest – and perhaps greatest – member."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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