Cardiff AAC celebrated its 50th anniversary on Saturday watched by the ever-youthful Lynn ‘the Leap’ Davies, one the club’s and Wales’ greatest athletes. Owen Morgan had a chat with the long jump legend for Dai Sport as the current crop of athletes in the blue vest took to the track and field.
Even 54 years on from the moment which sets him apart from all other Welsh athletes, Lynn Davies still caught the eye as he watched the long jump competitions unfold at Cardiff’s International Sports Campus on Saturday.
Looking trimmer and fitter than many men half his 76 years, “Lynn the Leap” – as he is universally known – still boasts the irresistible aura of a great athlete and true Welsh sporting treasure.
All these years on from that wonderful rainy night in Tokyo back in 1964 when he leapt to long jump glory, he is still the only individual Welsh athlete to wear track and field Olympic gold.
Cardiff was where Davies’ journey to Olympic triumph started all those years ago and he was back to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cardiff AAC, the club formed by the amalgamation of Birchgrove Harriers and Roath Harriers, his first club.
What better way to celebrate 50 years of the club and 136 years of athletics in Cardiff than the newly promoted men’s team hosting a British Athletics League men’s Premier Division fixture along with a UK Women’s League Division One match?
Davies was in his element as he watched today’s athletes in action, recalling how his own athletics career began and emphasising the invaluable role club athletics played in his success.
The Cardiff AAC life member said: “Like all young athletes it began from being good at school and then joining a club.
“I came to Cardiff Training College in the early sixties and of course there were two clubs in Cardiff then – Birchgrove Harriers and Roath Harriers. I joined Roath.
“I competed for Roath Harriers and Cardiff Training College over those early years and eventually when Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club was formed in 1968 I competed for them.
“Being in a club makes the athletics a bit more meaningful in so far as you are part of a team . . . you are now competing for the club as a team. Going away to places like Crystal Palace and Birmingham and so on, and trying to get points when you jump, or sprint, or run in the relays – all for the team itself.”
“It was the beginning of my athletics career and played a big part in my journey then to the Olympic Games.
“That’s how you come through, from being the best in your club, enjoying the competition and getting coaching, moving onto the Welsh Championships, competing at those championships, setting your goals and dreams then for the Commonwealth Games every four years.
“That was my dream, and I managed to do that in Perth, Western Australia, in 1962. So it provides that structure, platform and launching pad to move onto your next level of competition and Cardiff AAC are doing a great job in that regard.”
A number of Cardiff AAC athletes represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast earlier this year.
Nantymoel-born Davies said: “I think the Commonwealth Games are a great competition. They fulfil a valuable function for young athletes because it’s the first time they will have experienced a multi-sport competition where they have to live in the village with the rest of the athletes and it prepares you well for the next level.
“If you do go on to the Olympic Games that’s the kind of atmosphere you get – the multi-sport atmosphere and you’ve experienced it at the Commonwealth Games, which is a little bit friendlier, a little bit less fierce.
“That’s what my experience was in Perth in 1962. I didn’t know what to expect, but I managed to set a British record in the long jump there and then two years later, of course, I won the Olympic title in Tokyo.
“But a lot of it was down to that first experience , coming from the Roath Harriers Club, the Welsh team at the Commonwealth Games , the European Championships and then onto the Olympic Games in Tokyo. So again, it’s the journey and the clubs play a valuable part in that journey.
Davies, says he is delighted Cardiff can celebrate its anniversary competing with the country’s top clubs back in the British Athletics League Premier Division, which the club dominated in the early 1970s.
Looking out across the Cardiff International Sports Campus, Davies said of the club: “It’s held its own hasn’t it? It’s had challenging times, moving from Maindy Stadium to Leckwith, just across the road there.
“And then of course they relocated to this stadium. I’m looking around today and it’s the perfect way to celebrate the 50th anniversary, a great atmosphere, some really great, great competition going on and good parachuting earlier on too, I enjoyed that, it was good fun!
“The weather helps makes the day, it’s absolutely perfect. I’ve been watching the long jump here, it’s about 70 degrees, there’s a lovely following wind and a great competitive atmosphere. A really fitting way to celebrate 50 years of Cardiff AAC.”
Davies says that Cardiff and Swansea Harriers being in the Premier Division bodes well for the future of Welsh athletics.
“Any Welsh sports club that can move on from being the best in Wales, onto the British platform, that’s a big step up because we’re a small nation, only three million people and there are 60 million in England.
“So when you take on the likes of Birchfield Harriers, Thames Valley Harriers and Windsor Slough and Eton, you really are up against much bigger populations and a bigger talent pool.
“So full marks to Cardiff AAC, they’ve got 800 members at the moment, but like all clubs they lack a little bit of coaching expertise in the field events, in the jumps and the throws, if you could have those, it would up the standard even more.
“But I’m very proud to see Cardiff holding their own and punching above their weight in the UK.
“Cardiff, Swansea, Cwmbran . . . they are the backbone. Clubs are the lifeblood of the sport aren’t they?”