Doug Turner

Doug is an imposing figure with some uninitiated people thinking that he would be more suited to playing in the second row of a rugby scrum. But if that were the case he would have been the fastest second rower in the world with impressive personal bests of 10.37 for 100m and 20.43 for 200 – the latter being the second Welsh record he set in a glittering career. Those times would not be out of place today – and they were set a quarter of a century ago.

Newport-born Doug was a relative late starter in athletics. Benefiting from the strong local based international sprints squad of outstanding coach Jock Anderson, he eventually became one of Britain’s top 200m runners. This group contained, amongst others, world junior 100 and 200m champion Christian Malcolm, world indoor 400m champion Jamie Baulch and double Welsh 100m winner, Kevin Williams.

After finishing third aged 22, in the 1989 Welsh 200m championships behind winner Colin Jackson, it took him another seven years before he gained his first British vest, competing unsuccessfully in the 1996 European indoor Championships in Stockholm.

The following year he showed a glimpse of his potential when finishing fifth in the 200m in the Valencia European indoor championships. This run was quite remarkable for the tall, well built athlete on the very tight bends of the indoor circuit. He also ran that year in the World indoor championships where he went out in the heats. He also took the AAA (British) indoor 60m title in 1996 and 2001.

However, Doug’s finest race came the following year when he took the 200m silver medal in 20.89 into a strong wind at the 1998 Budapest European Championships.

1998 was undoubtedly his best year as he followed up his European silver, this time in the red vest of Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur running a stunning leg of 45.1 secs in the 4 x 400m relay. He was part of the Welsh record (3:01.86) setting team of Paul Gray, Jamie Baulch and Iwan Thomas which took the bronze medal, Wales’s first ever Commonwealth Games medal in that event. He also figured in the Welsh 4 x 100 relay team of Kevin Williams, Christian Malcolm and Jamie Henthorn which just missed a bronze medal by finishing fourth.

He twice set Welsh 200m records, firstly clipping eleven hundredths off Jamie Baulch’s mark with 20.75 in 1975, before further reducing it to 20.43 in an international meeting in Estonia 12 months later, which was the third fastest time by a Briton that year behind Olympic greats Linford Christie and John Regis. Fellow Newport-born athlete Christian Malcolm lowered the record to 20.29 the following year.

Altogether, he took three Welsh 200m titles between 1995 and 2001 and was the fourth ranked Briton in 2001 at the ripe old age of 35. His winning time of 20.54 in the 2001 Welsh championships was the fastest time ever recorded in the championships and don’t forget he was a remarkable 35 years of age. Incredibly, this time still stands today as the championships record.

More Welsh titles would have surely come his way without the presence of Olympic athletes Christian Malcolm and Jamie Baulch.

He became a worthy inductee into the Welsh Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.

Written by Clive Williams.