A former Sunderland Harrier has rekindled his link with the club after a period of 58 years.
Ian Halliwell a former Monkwearmouth Grammar School pupil and one of a group of talented athletes at the school during the 1960s, got in touch with the Harriers after discovering a Sunderland Harriers lapel badge.
He said: “I came across something I'd like you to have - a Harriers lapel badge that dates back to the 1920s.
I only knew of one other in existence in the 1960s, but do not recall the owner. My aunt gave it to me around 1962 - apparently it belonged to my great-uncle, Henry Maughan, and I wore it on my "Monkey House" school blazer!”
“I was an active member of the club in the 1960s and left to go to Imperial College in London in 1966. I worked for Rolls-Royce in Derby until 1981, when I emigrated first to Canada and later to the USA.
I carried on running until into my 50s when a huge staph infection destroyed my left hip. After that I turned to cycling and I still do that at the age of 72. I am currently semi-retired but work part-time as a consultant to NASA and lecture and teach at US universities.’’
“I spent most of yesterday evening going through the club website and was saddened to see that Glynn Bathgate had died. I knew Glynn through the Scouts as well as the Harriers, and he helped me when I won two 50-Mile events they organized in 1963 and 1964, when I was 16 and 17.’’
“I am now setting best times on the bike, believe it or not. I discovered at the age of 70, that I've been anaemic all my life and have just got that sorted out. If only I had found that out in my late teens (which is when it probably began), I wouldn't have been running 3-hour marathons!
However, all those 70-mile training weeks have kept me pretty healthy, despite having been diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic in 1963.”
“My wife, Val (also ex-Monkwearmouth Grammar School), have been together for 49 years now and have a 30-acre place in a hilly area of central Ohio about 40 miles east of Columbus. Amazing running country and very challenging on a bike! I spend a lot of time on my Kubota tractor these days, cutting grass. That's when I plan my lectures."
“One thing I am fairly proud of is that in 2018 I had a text book published with a German friend on modelling jet engine performance. My first activity in retirement. It was a huge endeavour, at 750 pages! We just signed a contract with the publishers for Edition 2, which will be 900 pages! I'm a glutton for punishment. You don't get rich off text books though!.’’