Explore Our Rich History

Our Club was formed in the Autumn of 1978 at a meeting in the Llanelli  YMCA convened by Don Roberts of the Brin Isaac Memorial Fund, to determine if there was interest in establishing an Athletics association. Don Roberts went on to become the Club’s first President, and the Junior Athlete of the Year trophy bears his name.

This was at a time when there was no community track and no athletic or running clubs in Llanelli. The famous Stradey Park was still the home of Llanelli’s Scarlets rugby team. Once the Club was formed, members started to meet and train together on a regular basis. This was before mobile phones and internet, so training sessions were just agreed by word of mouth or the occasional home phone call. We often met on a Monday outside Bryngwyn School for a recovery run, Park Howard was used as a regular Saturday interval session, Lakefield Road Hall was used to meet midweek for intervals around the town and a stretching session afterwards. Llanelli was quite industrialised, as well as the large British Steel site , Llanelli Radiators, Duports and Northumberland tip were still operational, there were no wildfowl and wetlands site, coastal park area or coastal route. The old Loughor bridge was still the traffic route to Swansea (now replaced). Sunday was always the long run of the week, meeting in Pembrey Country Park at 8am, using the tracks through the woods, often running across the then old airfield (now the car race circuit) and occasionally coming down from the top end of the beach via the bombing range! There was always a wind up between the wrecks on the beach. 

Our first foray into competition –

Road and Cross Country running was the initial foray of the Club into competition and senior members participated in events including the Gwent League. Some of the first members were Rob Hickman, Gwylon Jones, Alistair Griffiths, Bruce Morgan, Huw Evans, Roger Lewis, Bruce Walker, Eric Davey, Paul Osborne, Paul Oram, Terry Turner, Byron Williams, Ian  Webb, Gary Richards, Gary May, Keith Davies, Nigel Thomas, Carl Phillips, David Cundy, Lincoln Law, Dennis Hart, Bruce Walker, Chris Rees, Anthony Derrick, Billy Edwards, Robert Hunt and Peter Small. They also formed the basis of the first Track athletics team, running in middle distance events. Later, Sam and Winnie Moore went on to achieve the first Ultra distance club honours and Glyndwr Williams became over 65 veterans World Marathon champion.

Our early years of Track competition –

1979 –  In our first Track year, Llanelli AAC men were runners -up in Div 2 of Welsh Senior Men’s League 1979, when many of the athletes also competed in other sports. They including Dai Nicolas, Wayne Williams, Rich Jenkins, Roger Wylie, Keith Charles, John Ellis and Paul Hughes. They joined the regular athletes, Steve Oroz, Hywel Davies, Paul Rees, Mark Early, Stephen Evans, to run, jump and throw for the Club on Track and Field. They were coached by Viv Rees(Hurdles), Ossie Morgan (Throws), Chris Rees(Sprints), Terry Davies (Sprints/Jumps/Throws) and Paul Oram (Middle & Long Distance).

In 1985, limited participation in the Senior Men’s League, resulted in the Club dropping to Div 3. But, 1986 saw a resurgence of interest and the Club became Champions of Div 3 in 1987, Div 2 in 1988 and finishing third in Div 1 in 1989. This was largely due to the return from competitive retirement of Terry Davies and new members including, Bill Morris, Mike Harper, Jason Price, Gary Cutler, Mike Hall, Anthony Derick, Carl Bridgewater and Peter Rees. 

In those days, Scarlet’s players like Phil Bennett also use to benefit and enjoy summer time fitness training with our Club track athletes.

A newly formed ‘B’ team won the Div 5 Championship in 1988, were runners-up in Div 4 in 1989 and Div 3 in 1990. After the peak of the late 1980’s the B team folded in 1991, and the A team became a some- what yo-yo team – too strong for Div 2 but ‘not quite good enough’ for Div 1.

During this period, the Welsh Ladies league catered for athletes from U13 to Senior, but after a couple of years the Club’s team folded due to lack of numbers, although Tracy Pearce, Laura Jenkins and Catherine Morgan achieved high Welsh rankings and senior women Helen Williams and Anne King won international honours. The League was reorganised during the 1990’s and became a Senior Ladies team resulting in the Club re-joining. After a couple of mediocre seasons, the Ladies became Champions of Div 2 in 1998.

A further reorganisation by Welsh Athletics saw the Men’s & Ladies Leagues combine from 1999, the combined team were promoted to Div 1 as runners-up in 1999 but followed the same pattern as the Men’s team until the League disbanded in 2012.

The early juniors –

The first Junior men  to represent the club and win Welsh titles included Gary Cutler, Jason Price and Andrew Powell. Young women mainly competed in the Kate Williams League from 1979 (the girls in the Senior League as stated above as well) for approximately 4 years. Unfortunately, due to lack of available competitors for all events, this section of the Club ceased participation. 

Road Running & Cross Country in the 1980’s –

With the advent of the road running boom in the early 1980’s the Club saw a significant increase in members running in road races, from 10k to the Marathon. This also saw an increased participation in members taking part in the Club’s Gwent League cross country teams, on occasion 4 Senior Men’s and 2 Senior Ladies teams taking part as well as a number of junior athletes. Saturday morning training in Pembrey Country Park was a must for those hoping to improve on their times and positions in future races. 

Travel to and from the Gwent League fixtures was often in the back of Dai Cundy’s van, and athletes just met under a tree, there were no tents or flags. As numbers increased we had the luxury of a hired coach on occasions.

The Club hosted the Welsh 10k Cross Country Championships in 1982 and later in 2006 the Welsh Cross Country Championships, both at Pembrey. We also held a Club Annual Christmas Cross Country event in Pembrey, which incorporated the Dyfed XC Championships for a number of years. 

During this period  Club athletes have won medals at Track & Field, Road and Cross-Country  Regional and National Championships and a number have been successful in gaining selection for Welsh teams ranging from track, field, road, cross country, mountain running and Ultra events.

During this time the seniors were able to train on occasion at Morfa Stadium, Swansea but this was not possible for many juniors. 

We get our first track and Club base – Stebonheath Park – 

Following an initiative by Llanelli Town Council, the redevelopment of Stebonheath Park into a football and an all- weather training track, led to the reformation of a Junior team and the Club again entered teams in the Louise Arthur and Welsh Junior Leagues. Stebonheath became the Club’s home between 1989 and 2010. 

The Club moves to a new 6 lane Pemberton Park Track – 

The construction of a new community floodlit six-lane track at Parc-Y-Scarlets in 2010 became a catalyst for a dramatic increase in junior numbers. This became the new base for the club, a Club Cabin being erected in 2019.

Fond Memories –

Sadly, some of those athletes who were part of the Club’s early fabric are no longer with us, taken far too early. Roger Lewis, Hywel Davies, Stephen Evans, Dennis Hart, Ossie Morgan, Terry Davies, Paul Hughes, Glyn Davies, Phyllis John and more recently the young junior athlete Matthew Kelly.  They all did so much to help build our Club and offer friendship and support to others.

Browse through highlights of memorable moments and achievements from our athletics club’s past.