Newyddion

22/03/2019 00:00, I Mewn Track & Field /

From Clive Williams:

"Jackie Barnet who sadly died on 15^th March aged 80 was the first Welsh female middle-distance runner to bring some respectability to Welsh middle distance running. Her first club was Newport Athletic Club but latterly a member of Cardiff’s Roath Harriers when her breakthrough came."

Jackie set her first Welsh record for 880 yards in 1959 with 2 mins 34.4 sec and brought this down on numerous occasions to a very respectable 2:12.1 (equivalent to a 2:11.4 800m) in 1962, which was the 7^th fastest time in the UK that year. This would have also placed her just outside the Welsh top 10 for 2018 – 56 years after she clocked that time at Women’s AAA championships (effectively UK championships) at the then UK athletics headquarters of White City Stadium, London.

She ran in the 1958 and 1962 Commonwealth Games. In the 1958 Cardiff Games, she ran in the 220 yards but did not progress past the heats. By the time of the 1962 Perth Games, she had established herself as one of the UK’s best 880 yards performers and ran in this event finishing sixth. It was the first time an event beyond 220 yards had been held for women in the Games. Incredibly it took until the 1970 Edinburgh Games for the 1,500m to be added.

She won nine Welsh titles, completing the 440/880 double at four successive championships between 1959 and 1962. She also took the 220 yards in 1956. Jackie was a member of Welsh National Coach Jim Alford’s training group at Maindy Stadium which contained so many of Wales’ stars at the time.

She had lived in London for many years and had been ill for some time. The funeral took place on 19 March.