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Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club
Enfield and Haringey AC was formed in 1999 with the merger of Borough of Enfield Harriers and Haringey AC. BoEH was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of Enfield AC, founded 1920, and Ponders End AC (1922). Haringey AC was originally Southgate Harriers, a club formed in 1932 by a breakaway group from the Southgate & Wood Green Sports Association. In 1974, Southgate Harriers moved its HQ from Broomfield Park to White Hart Lane and adopted the title Haringey & Southgate AC which was later shortened to Haringey AC.
Southgate/Haringey's first international was Bernard Eeles who competed for England in 1934 against France over 1500m. Southgate/Haringey's first Olympian was John Giles (1948 Shot) swiftly followed by Stan Cox (Marathon), John Wrighton (400m), Mike MacFarlane (sprints), Gary Oakes (Olympic 400mH bronze 1980), Heather (Hunte) Oakes (sprints), Seb Coe (1984 Olympic 1500m champion), Dalton Grant (High Jump), Anthony Jarrett (110m Hurdles) and John Herbert (Triple Jump).
Paul Valle was an early Enfield AC international (200m 1946) while Gerry McIntyre (PEAC) represented Ireland in the 1960 Olympic marathon. Another Ponders End member, Frank Seal ran for England in the International CC Championships, the forerunner of the World CC Championships. More recent internationals number Roald Bradstock (Javelin), Geoff Capes (Shot), Charlie Fogg (50km walk), Ron Jones (100m), Roy Mitchell and Alan Lerwill (Long Jump), Carole Mathers (Saunders) (High Jump and Pentathlon), Sue Morley (Chick) (400mH), Linda Peck (Sprints and 400m), Amos Seddon (20km walk), Hugh Teape (110m Hurdles), Lynda Whiteley (Discus) and Simon Williams (Discus and Shot). In 1978 Rosemary Cox (Harrold) set a UK marathon record while in 2003, Leon Baptiste won the European Junior 100m championship.
The 1999 merger produced a club that has quickly risen to the top echelon of British athletics in all departments. In 2003 the club's Boys team won an unprecedented 5th successive national Young Athletes title while, in September of 2004, the combined Girls and Boys team won the National Young Athletes Plate Final, ranking them second in the UK. In 2005 the Girls and Boys team won through to the National Final proper and narrowly lost to reigning champions Blackheath & Bromley. The best was to come in 2006 when team manager Glen Fowler guided the YA team to a resounding victory.
In 2005 the Junior (U20) Men's team had a magnificent win in the National Junior League Final to take their 4th successive title. In 2006 the Junior League combined the men's and women's competitions and the EHAC squad finished second although the men came out top once again. The Enfield & Haringey women finished second that year and these positions were repeated in 2007 which meant that the EHAC Junior men once again had automatic selection to the 2008 European Junior Clubs Final which will be their 8th consecutive appearance in this competition. After the 2007 Junior Final, Allan Sutton stood down as Junior team manager, handing over the reins to Glen Fowler.
The Ladies section continues to make great progress under team manager Ray Gibbins and at the end of the 2005 season won promotion from the Southern Women's League to the UK Women's League and in 2007 was promoted to Division 3. The Men's senior team under the stewardship of Malcolm Blackmore only dropped one point in National Division 1 of the British Athletics League during 2007 and were promoted to the Premiership Division for 2008.
In Brno, in mid-September, the junior Men's squad finished a close-up fourth - by one point - in the 2007 European Junior Clubs Final despite losing four major points winners in the weeks before the Final. Highlight of the afternoon was the 4x100m team's win in blustery conditions with 40.83 seconds - beating the club's own UK Junior Clubs' record of 41.04 which it had set in the 2004 European Junior Cup Final.
Individually, 2007 saw club members win medals at national, area and world level. In the World Masters Championships, Gwen Bird took the silver medal in the W50 discus and Emily McMahon won a bronze for the W55 80m hurdles (in which she had won gold two years earlier) despite restricted preparation due to a major illness.
In European Championships, Luke Fagan was third in the U20 200m, Torema Dorsett was second in the U18 European Olympics 100m, Darren St Clair fourth in the U23 800m, Leon Baptiste 6th in the U23 200m and Adam Scarr was 8th in the U23 high jump.
Enfield & Haringey AC ended the 2007 track & field season with 16 national champions drawn from across the full spectrum of events and ages:
Adam Scarr M23 High Jump
Mark Crowley British Students Indoor High Jump
Mark Crowley Irish Indoor High Jump
Jon Pepper M20 Inter-County Cross Country
Erica Smith M20 Indoor 400m
Dee Bakre W17 Triple Jump
Jordan Huggins M17 100m
Antonio Infantino M17 English Schools 200m
Rhion Samuel M17 Indoor 200m
Phil Williams M40 5k Walk
Phil Williams Welsh 3k Walk
John Shepherd M45 Long Jump
Emily McMahon W55 Indoor 60m Hurdles
Emily McMahon W55 Indoor 60m
Evaun Williams W65 Indoor Shot
Ron Powell M70 10km Walk
As well as the National Junior 4x100m record, club teams set two other national records, M17 4x100m in 41.92 and W20 4x100m in 46.6. Enfield & Haringey AC can also boast 48 entries in the 2007 UK top ten rankings, six of them at number one. Regan Sembaty headed the Boys under-13 200m list with 25.09; Jordan Huggins' 10.45 led the M17 100m rankings and Antonio Infantino was at the top of the M17 200m runners with his 21.28 - a measure of EHAC's strength is that Antonio was also ranked second over 100m with 10.52 and William Ife's 10.75 was in 6th place. EHAC similarly had three men in the U20 100m top ten: Luke Fagan was second with 10.39 (and second in the M20 200m list with 20.86), Huggins 4th and Infantino 7th. Jon Pepper despite a truncated season due to injury was at the top of both the M20 5000m and 3km steeplechase lists - 14:20.76 and 9:03.76 - while last, but certainly not least, Dee Bakre's national title winning triple jump of 11.79m took her to the top of the W17 list.
The club's Race walking section organises the highly successful Enfield Race Walking League while during the winter Enfield & Haringey AC provides a full programme for all ages with competitions on road and cross country, in local leagues and in County, Area and National Championships.
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