Peter Masters
Peter has worked for many years to develop athletics in Sussex and secured funds to enable Sussex to be the first County to employ an Athletics Development Officer. His leadership of the County Athletics Development Committee enabled the County to introduce many new initiatives such as County Squads and the Flying Coach scheme.
As a founder member of Lewes AC he is Chairman of the club and secured Lottery funding to build the Lewes all weather track. He coaches at the club and initiated the Lewes Downland Runs and the Easter Monday Fun Runs. He was invited by England Athletics to establish the SE Regional Committee of England Athletics and served on the England Council.
Latterly he led the successful bid to secure funds to create one of the first County based Club Networks and currently chairs the Network Executive Committee.
Reg Hook
Reg was born into athletics as his father John (Jack) was the first Secretary of the Sussex County Association in 1926. As he suffered from asthma, Reg took to coaching and officiating, and organised his first athletics meeting involving several London clubs and Brighton AC in 1952. He also became a statistician, researching and compiling the first ever list of Sussex records in 1956.
In 1958 Reg became Secretary of Sussex County AA, a position he held for ten years before taking over as Secretary for the newly merged Brighton & Hove AC.
He remained in that post until 1981 when he stepped down but took over the role of Coaching Secretary for five years.
In 1962 he started writing for the Evening Argus on athletics, having written for the Brighton & Hove Herald since 1953, and supplying pictures for both papers from 1955.
He is a Life member and has served as President of Sussex County AA, and for the past twenty odd years as President of Sussex Schools.
Keith May
Keith is retired and apart from athletics his interests include travel, horse racing and playing golf.
He is currently the Chairman of the Southern Women’s Track and Field League, and of his club - Horsham Blue Star. Other involvement in the sport includes organising the Sussex County Track & Field Championships as well as the Sussex Under 13 Track & Field League which he set up in 1990. He is a grade 4 timekeeper.
Keith believes that Clubs provide the bedrock for athletics in this country and that support of the Clubs and volunteers within the Clubs is vital for the future of the sport.
John Gill
John is a member of Haywards Heath Harriers and has been seriously involved in athletics since joining the club in 1982. Over the years he has competed in a wide range of events including the Southern Men’s League, numerous road and cross country events, rather a lot of marathons, mostly off-road, and a handful of ultras. He has surprised himself by gaining a County medal or two along the way.
From the outset John has been an active administrator at his club, helping in the organisation and management of numerous fixtures and social events. He spent a number of years as Chairman and has now been the nominal President for 10 years or so. He is a Level 3 Field Official and also holds track and endurance organiser qualifications. He has been Sussex Officials Development Officer since spring 2008 and hopes to be able to increase the number of Officials in the County.
Elspeth Turner: Club and Coach Development Officer for Sussex and Kent.
Elspeth’s role as CCSO for England Athletics involves supporting the Network and its activities. She is a point of contact for clubs, coaches and officials in Sussex providing other initiatives such Flying Coach visits, Clubmark accreditation, Local Coaching Programme opportunities and general club, coach and officials development support.
Having worked in the development of athletics in the South East for six years, Elspeth has seen the impact county-based activities have had. She firmly believes that the Sussex Athletics Network, encompassing all the clubs in the county, will give the county a further opportunity to build on the collaborative working practices which have seen activities such as the County Squad produce successful results.
Elspeth is currently refreshing her lapsed coaching qualifications and intends to resume coaching. Whilst still an active athlete in cross country and road she is committed to provide road running clubs with greater opportunities and says that “With more to offer road running clubs in terms of coaching, officiating, recruitment and race organisation information there is plenty of scope for development”
John Linfield
John has been involved in the promotion of athletic events in Sussex at club and county level over many years. He is a qualified official being a Level 4 Track Judge and a Level 3 official for endurance events. He is also qualified as a Level 3 Coach.
In 1980 John was responsible for introducing the concept of Sportshall Athletics to the County and a year later set up the Sussex Sportshall League which he continues to organise.
