 |
Tower Hamlets AC History
|
|
Tower Hamlets AC started on 5th October 1976 as a result of a very poor performance when the Borough hosted a heat of the London Boroughs Championships, the fact that children would not travel to Victoria Park in the winter and the virtual non-existent opportunities for female athletes.
One of the big factors in establishing the club was the opportunity to use the floodlit track at East London Stadium (now renamed Mile End stadium) as the track in Victoria Park was unlit.
The Club struggled for existence during various renovations of the Stadium but managed to survive with help from Tower Hamlets Council.
Tower Hamlets AC concentrated on track and field athletics and had a mainly young membership who joined as total beginners and learnt their events under a handful of talented coaches.
The club had a very young men’s team competing in the Southern League which rose to division 3 during its most successful period and a ladies/girls team which mainly competed in the lower divisions of the Womens’ Southern League.
The club's athletes won hundreds of Middlesex Championships over the years and many athletes went on to achieve representative honours at county, schools, area and International level. It was very pleasing to note that almost three quarters of the honours were won by female athletes.
As the number of youngsters grew the small number of coaches and officials at the club found it increasingly difficult to organise all the different league teams and open meetings that the young members needed to attend. Eventually the approached VPH in 2001 for a merger in order to benefit from the greater number of experienced volunteers at the older club and to produce a strong club in this area of London.