The Polytechnic Harriers is an athletic club

Hitory

The club was founded by philanthropist Quintin Hogg in 1883, and they were known for four years as the Hanover United AC, and were the athletics arm of Quintin Hogg's Regent Street Polytechnic. The Polytechnic Harriers were based at the Chiswick track and their history with racing events predated "the Poly" since they oversaw walking races from London to Brighton as far back as 1897. The club has long ties to what is now the London Marathon. In 1908 they oversaw the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1908 Olympics, the Game's marathon, and played a large part in the development of the Polytechnic Marathon, which ran from 1909- 1996. In 1985 The Polytechnic Harriers merged with The Royal Borough of Kingston AC, a women's club that evolved from Surrey AC, to become the Kingston AC and Polytechnic Harriers (Kingston & Poly). The Polytechnic's Kinnaird and Sward Trophies are still contested annually at Kingston & Poly's home track, which is adjacent to the football stadium at Kingsmeadow. The Polytechnic Marathon is no longer held, having been superseded by the London Marathon. Kingston & Poly's men now compete nationally in the British Athletics League and, at area level, the men and women operate jointly in the Southern Athletics League, although they were relegated to lesser divisions in 2016.

Olympic athletes

• Willie Applegarth (1912 gold) • Jeannette Bailey • McDonald Bailey • James Barker • Henry Barrett • James Barrett • Guy Brockington • Colin Campbell • Timothy Carroll • Frederick Chauncy • Paul Crosfield • Larry Cummins • Victor d'Arcy (1912 gold) • Charlie Davies • Charles Denroche • Harry Edward (Britain's first Black medalist) • Lorna Frampton • Fred Gaby • Cyril Gill • Tim Graham • Oswald Groenings • George Hawkins • Peter Hildreth • Albert Hill (1920 gold x 2) • Guy Holdaway • Rene Howell • Stan Jones • Leslie Laing (1952 gold) • Georg Lind • Jack London • Percy Mann • Douglas McNicol • Arthur Muggridge • Henry Murray • George Nicol • Bert Norris • John Odde • Alan Pascoe • Ron Pavitt • Martin Pike • Aubrey Reeve • Richard Ripley • Eric Robertson • Brian Shenton • Edward Spencer • Clive Taylor • Arthur Treble • Jimmy Tremeer • Stan West • Doug Wilson • Arthur Wint (1948 & 1952 gold)

Archives

The Club's archives are still held at the University of Westminster.