Club History

Basildon AC first came into existence in 1955 at Gloucester Park, Basildon, when Frank & Elizabeth Cocker were asked by the New Town Council to set up the club. Cy Knibb and Bob Hawthorne, both of whom went on to become prominent figures within the club over the next few years, were involved with the founding of the Basildon Sports Council in March 1959, and through the 1960s they worked hard to get a track for the club. By 1969, they had a grass track, which soon became a cinder track and eventually a tartan one in 1986. Knibb was an athlete and coach, and as club chairman and county coaching secretary, he was instrumental in creating strong links with schools, as he established local inter-schools competitions. This strong bonding with schools was continued ever since. Knibb felt that he had a positive effect on the coaching at the club. He explained: "As Essex coaching secretary, I brought many top coaches to Basildon, including Tom McNab, John Le Measurier, Ron Bowden, Tony Eldon, and Ron Pickering. This contributed to the club's growing success."

 

Bob Hawthorne had also been involved since the beginning, and when Knibb left, he became club secretary as the club was on the verge of folding. His late wife, Joyce, was walking secretary, organizing the annual Festival of Walking, which was one of the biggest walking events in the country. Dave Evans became chairman and coached with the club for many years, whilst Frank Coker was president, and as membership grew, parents played an increasing role. Ian and Carol Inveraty, together with Mike Yates, had been the only club coaches, but this soon changed as Inveraty held meetings and encouraged those interested to take coaching and officiating qualifications in order to cope with the increasing number of youngsters wanting to join. One of the UK's top marathon runners at the time, Stan Cox, joined the club, and Eddy Branch became chairman. Hawthorne commented: "It was great to see so many young people taking up athletics and getting so much from the club. We would fill two coaches going to away fixtures, and it was fantastic to see so many people enjoying themselves and supporting each other. We introduced a social event once a week, and it was a very happy and successful club." Hawthorne recalled one particular memory in the club's history. He said: "At the Annual New Town Festival of Sport held in Basildon in 1969 between the seven New Towns, Basildon thrashed the six other towns, proving how strong and successful the club had become." Hawthorne’s brother Jim was another to have been involved with the club for 40 years, with his wife Alma having been treasurer and Team Manager in the past.  

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Through the 1960s, it was in race walking that the club was enjoying the most success under the guidance of lead coach Phil Everard. John Webb took part in the race walk at the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, and Olly Flynn was Commonwealth Champion. Due to the strength of these athletes, young athletes were attracted to join the walking fraternity at the club, and this section grew and developed, attracting top walkers from America to come and train in Basildon. In the early 1970s, the winner of the inaugural British women's race walking championships was a Basildon athlete, Irene Bateman, who went on to win Commonwealth gold.  

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The club's impressive race walking CV was much of the reason why the club boasted particular success in the middle and long distances at the time. However, the club was keen to nurture talent in all disciplines, and this was evident on the club's roll of honour, where many of the young athletes coming through and enjoying success were in other disciplines.

After Webb and Flynn in the 1960s, Eamon Martin was the athlete who really put Basildon on the map. Coached by the late Mel Batty, the double Olympian won the National cross country in 1984 and 1992, and won Commonwealth gold over 10,000m in 1990 with 28:08.56. However, what Martin was most famous for was being the most recent British male winner of the London Marathon, when he ran 2:10.50 to beat Mexican athlete Isidro Rico in 1993. Rob Denmark was another successful athlete to have emerged from the club, winning Commonwealth Games gold and European silver over 5000m in 1994 and placing seventh in the 1992 Olympics. Nick Wetheridge was AAA and UK Champion for the half marathon, representing Great Britain at the World Half Marathon Championships in Mexico in 2000. Martin, Denmark, and Wetheridge were all still involved with the club. Martin coached Wetheridge from club athlete to international, and this success attracted other athletes from neighbouring clubs to join forces with him, such as 3:42 1500m man Neil Bangs, and multiple Essex cross country and track champions Mark Sanford and Gareth Riddle. His most recent at the time was England Athletics under-23 1500m champion Gemma Kersey, who was part of the winning Junior Women's team at the European Cross Country Championships in 2011.

 

Following the death of Batty, who was also coaching Adam Hickey, Hickey had started training with Martin and was rediscovering his best form. Other recent internationals aside from Kersey to have come through the Basildon club were Kim Wall, who had represented Great Britain in the 400m and as part of the 4×400 relay team on numerous occasions, and 2011 European under-23 1500m silver medallist James Shane (who represented Newham and Essex Beagles, but still trained in Basildon with club coach Martin Brown).

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The club also boasted numerous English Schools and National age-group medallists in a range of events, with Tariq Martin (under-20 thrower), Kaylee Dodd (twice English Schools 800m champion), and Dale Clutterbuck (twice English Schools 1500m bronze medallist) among the names to watch out for. International athletes who continued this tradition of success included Abbi Ives, Arianna McGee, Sam Bennett, Sean Appiah, and Shiloh Omotosho.