Berwyn Jones, a former teacher at John Kyrle High School was recently inducted into the Welsh Athletics Hall of Fame.

On the 29th September 2018, at The Hilton Hotel, Cardiff, Mrs Ann Jones and her family received an award on behalf of Berwyn, who sadly died in 2007. Inclusion in the Hall of Fame is for Welsh athletes who have achieved the highest standards in the sport of athletics.

Berwyn was born in 1940 in Rhymney, South Wales. In 1960, whilst completing teacher training at Caerleon College, Berwyn competed in the Welsh Athletics Championships, finishing second in the 100 yards. That year, he also won his first British vest, making his debut as part of the sprint relay team against Hungary.

He won his first individual British vest against Poland in Warsaw when he finished third behind the winner.

He moved to Loughborough College in 1961 and competed at the Welsh Games, at Cardiff’s Maindy Stadium. He ran 100 yards in 9.7 seconds, equalling the Welsh record.

Berwyn truly announced his arrival on the international scene with a stunning silver medal at the World Student Games in Sofia, Bulgaria, finishing second to one of the world’s best sprinters - Cuba’s Enrique Figuerola.

Figuerola went on to win the silver, three year later at the Tokyo Olympics behind Bob Hayes emphasising that had Berwyn gone to the Olympics in Japan in 1964, instead of going north to play rugby league, he would have been in the hunt for medals in the individual 100m and as part of Britain’s relay team.

Former First Minister of the Welsh Assembly and athletics aficionado, Rhodri Morgan said: “Given how almost all British athletes out-performed their world ranking in Tokyo on account of the rainy weather, my guess is that Berwyn would have sneaked the bronze behind Hayes and Figuerola.”

In 1962, Berwyn won bronze medals as part of the relay team in both the Perth Commonwealth Games and the European Championships in Belgrade.

His family believe 1963 was his greatest year, when he became the second Welsh athlete to win the AAA British 100 yards title, which made Berwyn Britain’s number one sprinter.

He also won the 100m for Britain in four international matches against West Germany, Russia, and Sweden. He then saw the best individual performance of his career, when he ran 10.3 against Hungary in Budapest to equal the British 100m record.

Berwyn Jones, on the Hall of Fame, can be viewed at: http://www.welshathletics.org/about-us/our-history/hall-of-fame/berwyn -jones.aspxSee the full story in this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette, or subscribe to our online edition here