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THETHE ACHILLESACHILLES CLUBCLUB 20052005 PRESIDENT Sir Thomas Macpherson of Biallid CBE MC TD DL (Oxford) VICE-PRESIDENTS Derek G. Steel (Oxford) J. Peter Ford CBE (Cambridge) H. Robert H. Stinson MBE (Cambridge ) Donald C.E. Gorrie MSP ( Oxford) Timothy M. Taylor (Oxford) CHAIRMAN Dr Dewi W. ROBERTS (Cambridge) COMMITTEE Mark S. Steed (Cambridge) US Matches and Schools Relays Tom Dowie (Oxford) Achilles Dinner Alan James (Cambridge) Varsity Match Robert Harle (Cambridge) Webmaster Matthew Buck (Cambridge) Kit – [email protected] Jonathan Parker (Oxford) – Achilles Ball Air Commodore John G. De'Ath MBE (Oxford) Richard Baderin Past President OUAC Dan Bray Past President & Men’s Captain CUAC Nichola s Radford President OUAC Andrew Owen President CUAC Martine Bomb Women’s Captain OUAC Claire Palmer Women’s Captain CUAC Katie Sam Hon. Sec. OUAC Kieran Millar Hon. Sec. CUAC Dr. Simon Clarke Hon. Treasurer, OUAC Christopher L. Pratt Hon. Treasurer, CUAC Ailsa Wallace - Achilles Rep, OUAC Richard Wheater – Achilles Rep. CUAC Team Managers Cassie Beasley ( Cambridge) 07970 490008 [email protected] Dr. Andrew Hodge (Cambridge), 07958 923157 [email protected] Clare Ridgley (Oxford) Mobile 07971 793916 [email protected] Matt Weaver (Oxford) 020 7263 5976 (h), [email protected] Jenny Gillett (Oxford) [email protected] Achilles Trust Trustees: H.R.H. Stinson ; Sir Thomas Macpherson ; Dr. C.J.R. Thorne; J.G. De’Ath; Clerk to the Trust: Dr. Christopher Thorne (Cambridge), St Catharine’s College, Cambridge 01954-210566 [email protected] American Achilles Foundation Thomas N. Blodgett (Cambridge) [email protected] Hon. Treasurer & Membership Secretary Peter Crawshaw (Oxford), 18 Ringley Park Av., Reigate, Surrey RH2 7EU. Phone 01737-761626 [email protected] Hon. Secretary & Editor Paul Talbot Willcox (Cambridge) c/o Eggar Forrester, 1st Floor, Scotia House, 33 Finsbury Sq, London EC2A 1PL . Phone 020 7256 2623 (24 hours) [email protected] IN MEMORIAM Sandy competing in the Southern Championships in 1937……and setting a new match record v. Princeton & Cornell in the USA in Kenneth Sandilands Duncan, OBE (New College, Oxford, 1931-5) on 18 th June 2005. Honorary Secretary of the Achilles Club, 1948-1987. Sandy Duncan won the Varsity Sports long jump in his freshman year, and was sec- ond for the next two years to WL Lang and JC Horsfall respectively. In 1935 he was President of OUAC, and triumphed again at both the long jump and 100 yards. Sandy was elected Hon. Secretary of the Achilles Club on 16th December 1948 and held the post with distinction for 39 years. Always one to leave a matters in order, one of his final projects was to put together I was devastated to hear the ‘Standing Orders’ which are still the bible for about Sandy`s death. He was inter-varsity competitions. A few years ago he con- always a friend and I went to fided that of the several organisations which he the Helsinki Olympics as his had been responsible for, only Achilles was in bet- PA, where I had a wonderful ter shape than when he had retired: and he took great pride in that, because time. He became a Roman he knew that he had laid the foundations for the Club’s resurgence. The Catholic when he married a Club marked his retirement with a dinner at the Dyers Hall in July 1988: long time ago now and it was Godfrey Brown proposed the toast to Sandy, who was awarded the Achilles my job to reassure him from Medal for his outstanding contribution to the Club. Sandy used the connec- time to time that even Old tions which Achilles offered as a springboard for a career which took him to Malvernians could change 12 Olympic Games in a senior administrative capacity. He was enormously their minds about religious proud of his contribution to world sport, and few years ago he supplied us practices without any come with the analysis opposite of his attendance at major Games. back! He always seemed re- lieved when I told him. John Goodbody, writing in The Times: - Philip Morgan SANDY DUNCAN was one of the most distinguished and sympathetic sports officials of his generation. For many years he was synonymous with the Olympic movement I have particular reason to in Britain, where his common sense in a period of frequent turmoil was valuable. remember Sandy affection- Although not naturally reactionary, he always felt Britain should follow the regulations ately as a result of the en- of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), then ruled by the autocratic Avery couragement he gave Donald Brundage, whose strict interpretation of amateurism became less and less tenable as Gorrie and me when I had the his presidency continued. idea of starting the Achilles Duncan was this country’s chef de mission at 12 winter and summer games, was Schools’ Relays in the early general secretary of the British Olympic Association (BOA) from 1949 to 1975 and 1960’s. His support was cru- also honorary secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation, overseeing the cial. celebrations from Vancouver in 1954 to Brisbane in 1982. - David Donaldson Kenneth Sandilands Duncan was educated at Malvern College, where his ability at the long jump w as quickly evident — he won the London Athletic Club’s schools championships with a record leap of 22ft 5 3/4in. His prowess earned him a 1934 World University Games Budapest Long Jump Blue in his first year at Oxford, and he also won the 100 yards against Cambridge, as w ell as getting a football British Empire Games London Long Jump – 4th Blue. In the AAA championships he came in the top six in 1936 Olympic Games Berlin GB Team HQ Staff the long jump every year from 1932-37, finishing second 1938 World University Games Paris 4x110m - GOLD in 1934. He w as sixth in both the shot and discus in 1938. British Empire Games Sydney 4x110m – SILVER He represented Britain in 1935 and, in July 1936, ran his 1948 Olympic Games London Torch Relay Technical Official fastest time of 9.8 seconds for the 100 yards, although a 1950 British Empire Games Auckland Hon. Sec., British Empire Games hamstring injury prevented him from being selected for Federation the Olympics. 1952 Olympic Games Helsinki GB Chef de Mission How ever, this disappointment inadvertently led him to his Olympic Winter Games Oslo GB Chef de Mission eventual career. He was attached to the headquarters 1954 British Empire & Com- Vancouver Hon. Secretary, British Empire & staff in Berlin, so beginning his long relationship with the monwealth Games Commonwealth Games Federation Olympic movement. 1956 Olympic Games Melbourne & GB Chef de Mission Stockholm During the w ar he served in the Royal Artillery and rose Olympic Winter Games Cortina GB Chef de Mission to the rank of major. During the Italian campaign he w as able to nurture his love of opera. 1958 British Empire & Com- Cardiff Hon. Secretary, British Empire & monwealth Games Commonwealth Games Federation After the war Duncan taught at Bradfield and, having 1960 Olympic Games Rome GB Chef de Mission qualified as an AAA coach, he and fellow Achilles mem- Olympic Winter Games GB Chef de Mission 1962 British Empire & Com- Perth Hon. Secretary, British Empire & Sandy was a good man, who stood out among monwealth Games Commonwealth Games Federation those in the higher echelons of British sport for 1964 Olympic Games Tokyo GB Chef de Mission his honourability and through-going decency. Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck GB Chef de Mission We need more like him. With fond memories of 1966 British Commonwealth Kingston Hon. Secretary, British Common- his unstinting support for all of us in the not Games wealth Games Federation always easy circumstances of Mexico 1968 1968 Olympic Games Mexico City GB Chef de Mission —Tim Johnston Olympic Winter Games Grenoble GB Chef de Mission ber Roly Harper set up the national coaching scheme 1970 British Commonwealth Edinburgh Hon. Secretary, British Common- Games wealth Games Federation under Geoff Dyson. 1972 Olympic Games Munich GB Chef de Mission His advised many competitors at the 1948 Olympics. His Olympic Winter Games Sapporo GB Chef de Mission greatest success was in persuading Dorothy Manley to 1974 British Commonwealth Christchurch Hon. Secretary, British Common- change from the high jump to the 100 metres, in which Games wealth Games Federation she came second to the celebrated Dutch runner Fanny 1976 Olympic Games Montreal GB Chef de Mission Blankers-Koen. He was also the technical director of the torch relay. He crossed France in a Rolls-Royce, being Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck GB Chef de Mission fêted by the mayor of every town through which the relay 1978 Commonwealth Games Edmonton Hon. Secretary, Commonwealth passed. Games Federation 1980 Olympic Games Moscow His administrative career began in 1947 w hen he was 1982 Commonwealth Games Brisbane Hon. Secretary, Commonwealth made secretary of the Universities’ Athletic Union. This Games Federation gave him the initial experience for his appointment, tw o years later, at the BOA. The following 26 years were difficult as the BOA, which has never received, nor sought, government funding, had to pick teams against other leading countries whose athletes either benefited from the state-amateur policy of the communist bloc or college scholarships as in the US. No official individual funding for British competitors was available until after 1976. There was also the constant intervention of politics. These included the crushing of the Hungarian revolution by Soviet troops in 1956, just before the Melbourne Games, and the problem of apartheid in South Africa. Duncan generally steered a middle course on the political issues and was not entirely comfortable w ith journalists’ questions on such matters.

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