Wells City Harriers are supporting calls for Mary Rand to be awarded Freedom of the City of Wells. Mary is the Club's Honorary President and achieved Golden Girl status when she won Gold in the Long Jump at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
Mary's long jump was a World record at the time and she also won silver and bronze medals at the same Games. Wells citizen and long-standing athlete Tony Williams has initiated discussion with the Councillors to see whether in this year of the London Olympics a fitting tribute to Mary would be to bestow the title of Freedom of the City on Mary in recognition of her achievements.
Club Chairman Paul Chadwick has written to the Councillors this week in support of the moves:
"As the Club chairman I am writing on behalf of the membership of Wells City Harriers to request that the Council consider the proposal of Mary Rand being awarded freedom of the City in this year of the Olympics, 2012.
As many of you will know, as a Club we have been promoting athletics for over 30 years within Wells and the wider area and during that time we have helped to develop the undoubted talent and ability that exists within our community.
Over the past decade six of our senior athletes have gone on to represent TeamGB on the track, or at Cross-country or on the road. One of our members has been the national Cross-country champion twice, and a number of our junior members have placed in the top ten nationally at the English Schools Cross-country championships and have subsequently represented English Schools at international competition. The organisation and coaching provided by our volunteer coaches for our 250 members of all ages from age 8 to 78 has undoubtedly helped talented individuals achieve their potential at whatever level they wish to compete at. We continue to be based at Wells Rugby Club and also operate out of the track facilities at Millfield School.
Principal amongst the sources of inspiration for our athletes is the achievement of past and present athletes from the immediate vicinity. When Mary Rand became the Club’s Honorary President back in 1984, soon after the Club was founded, she helped provide a significant building block in the characteristics of the Club. Her achievements at the Tokyo Olympics, as fittingly commemorated within the Market Place, act as an inspiration to the youngsters we coach to appreciate that they too with hard work can achieve their goals. Whilst few will go on to Olympian levels we believe that the inspiration drawn from those who have gone before is a major contributor to the Club’s and their own success.
I do hope that in this year of the Olympics we can find a number of ways to further inspire those who do not participate in sport, as well as those who do and wish to achieve higher levels. One of the ways that the youngsters of Wells and environs can connect with the Olympics is to realise that from our very own area we have past Olympic champions who can be recognised in the way suggested by being awarded Freedom of the City."
As recorded in the history of Wells City Harriers (see About Wells Harriers tab) Mary became Hon President of the Club back in 1984 and has kept in touch with many of the Harriers over the years even though she is living in California. Together with fellow Olympians Lynn Davies, Mary Peters and Ken Matthews, Mary along with her daughter came to one of the Club's training sessions to inspire the youngsters in the mid-1990s when she and they were in the City.
BBC Points West & BBC Radio Somerset have given good coverage to the campaign. Go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-16440446
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