Running Through My Life

Ron Jones

Runner Ron Jones was one of the all-time greats of Welsh athletics, with 28 Welsh sprint records, 12 Welsh titles, and four Commonwealth Games to his name. He captained the British athletics team at the 1968 Olympics, before going on to become the first Chief Executive of an English soccer club.

ISBN: 9781800995734

Price: £14.99

Department: Biographical, Sport, Autobiography

Format: Paperback

Language: English

No. of pages: 352

Table of Contents

Preface
Author's Note
Introduction - Clive Williams
Foreword - the Rt Hon. Dr Kim Howells and Lynne Davies CBE
My encounter with Bob Hayes, 'The Fastest Human on the Planet'
My home, family and childhood memories
Aberdare Grammar School
First jobs
National service in the RAF
Back home in Wales
British Empire & Commonwealth Games, Cardiff, 1958
My first British vest, 1959
A huge disappointment, 1960-61
Lindley Armitage - my mentor and saviour
British Empire & Commonwealth Games, Perth 1962
A record-breaking year, 1963
Tokyo Olympics, 1964
A year of consolidation, 1965
British Empire & Commonwealth Games, Jamaica, 1966
Back to form, 1967
Mexico City Olympics, 1968
British sprint champion, 1969
Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh, 1970
Nos Galan Races in Mountain Ash
Reflections on my athletics career
Newspaper articles
Part-time coach, Queens Park Rangers FC, 1970-76
Working for the Plessey Company, 1960-76
Chief Executive, QPR FC, 1976-80
Cardiff City FC, 1980-88
Rugby League and a Pope at Cardiff City, 1981-83
Portsmouth FC, 1988-89
On the dole
SportsAid Cymru Wales, 1994-2019
Recognition
Tributes to Ron
Appendices
9 appearances in major athletics championships
26 appearances for Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Performances at Welsh championships
Welsh men's sprint champions 1946-2023
28 Welsh records

Blurb

The autobiography of the late Ron Jones (1934-2021), one of the all-time greats of Welsh athletics. He had an incredible sporting career, firstly as in international 100y/m sprinter and then as the first-ever chief executive of an English football league club. The son of a coal miner raised in Cwmaman, south Wales, he had an outstanding and lengthy athletics career, setting 28 Welsh sprint records winning 12 Welsh titles, and was Europe's number one sprinter and a world record holder in 1963. He competed in a record four Commonwealth Games and was captain of the British athletics team at the Mexico Olympic games in 1968. Ron gives an account of his travels worldwide as an athlete and how he trained for top-class competitions while holding down a full-time job. He talks about his rivalries and friendships on the track, and particularly his relationship with Lillian Board (1948-70),the golden girl of British athletics who died so tragically young. He was a regular at the New Year's Eve Nos Galan Road Races in Mountain Ash, was director of SportsAid Cymru Wales, was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 2013, and in 2018 he opened the Ron Jones Athletics Stadium in Aberdare. His second sporting career in football was just as glittering as his running. First as a coach and then chief executive of Queens Park Rangers FC (1976-80), he became friends with international football players as well as actors and musicians. He gives a behind-the-scenes account of events while he was the managing director of Cardiff City FC (1980-88).